Rhonda Bracey: At Random

On one of our trips to the US (2006) we visited family in Michigan. And as the weather was so nice, we drove up to the Mackinac Bridge and across it to the Upper Peninsula. However, despite the nice weather, pretty much everything in the little town on the other side of the bridge was still closed for winter.

On our drive north, we passed a tiny general store place with gas pumps and a sign that showed they sold Penfolds wines. Penfolds? In a little dot of a place in the middle of northern Lower Michigan? Penfolds is a HUGE wine brand in Australia and we’d previously brought over bottles of Bin 389 to give as gifts to friends only to find that Costco in Monterey, California sold them cheaper than we could buy them in Australia! Go figure.

So on the way back from the bridge trip, we stopped in at this little store to see what they had. And back in the liquor section, at the back of a shelf, we found two bottles of 2001 vintage Penfolds Bin 389! For $21.50 each (USD). Even with the exchange rate at the time, that was still MUCH cheaper than we could buy it in Australia (it was about $50 a bottle in Australia then). So we bought the two bottles. I checked first with the clerk that the price was correct and he said it was. After he’d completed the transaction, I told him that it was half the price we’d pay in Australia, which is where the wine was from. Unbelievable. (See https://rhondabracey.com/2006/04/16/pricing/ for the full story)

We bought these bottles back to Australia with us on our return. And put them away.

Last night, some eight years on we pulled one out to have with a lovely roast pork dinner I was cooking for my parents for Mothers Day. My husband filtered and decanted it in the afternoon so it had plenty of time to breathe.

And it was amazingly good. Not a lot of nose, but the taste. OMG. The taste! Smooth, with hints of black pepper (I’m not much into flowery wine language!). It went down an absolute treat.

Decanted and ready to pour

Still had the price sticker from the US on it!

And proof that this Australian wine was purchased in the US. Australians purchased it in the US for less than half the price Australians pay for the same wine in Australia. Go figure.