Joseph Bolitho Johns (1830-1900) aka Moondyne Joe. (Presumed public domain, from the Fremantle Prison website, via Wikipedia)
Now this is something literally delicious and I couldn’t resist sharing it with you. It is the description of a wine from Houghton Winery in Western Australia. The wine is The Bandit Sauvignon Blanc Pinot Gris 2010, and here is the description* from the back label:
The Bandit was Western Australian Moondyne Joe who earned notoriety for his elaborately planned jailbreaking. Moondyne’s good taste was to be his undoing. His final capture occurred when he broke into the Houghton Winery in 1869. The Bandit wines are daring blends of tremendous character which immortalises the legend. Aromas of passionfruit and lemon lead to a juicy palate complemented by hints of nashi pear.
I wonder if Moondyne had ever tried Nashi Pear? I do love wine labels – this was a pleasant wine but I can’t say I noticed the nashi, much as I love that fruit.
Anyhow, as with many of our Australian bushrangers, Moondyne Joe has been “celebrated” in fiction, verse and film. His being Western Australian and my being an easterner, he is less well-known to me than our eastern bushrangers, but now I have heard of his “good taste” I feel inclined to investigate him further. A bandit who breaks into a winery surely can’t be all bad!
* I do hope I haven’t breached copyright by quoting this at length.
Whispering Gums 
Great story.
I am always amazed by the fanciful terms winetasters apply to the different wines they taste/promote.
Have you seen Sideways?
HI Guy, Oh yes, I’ve seen Sideways. Thoroughly enjoyed it — and should perhaps see it again. Last night, I tried another Western Australian wine, this one from Yilgarnia winery. It’s a Semillon and is described as “A vibrant wine displaying characters of lemons, quinces with hints of cut grass”. Ya gotta love it!
im going to look for that wine now – passionfruit and lemon! yum
If you find it let me know what you think. You are clearly a passionfruit fan like I am… A fruit salad isn’t a fruit salad without passionfruit I think.
BTW about that copyright issue. Don’t worry about it. If the coppers come looking, just head to the nearest winery and beg for sanctuary.
Great advice Guy…I’ll remember it! It wouldn’t be hard in most parts of Australia to find a nearby winery these days.
The Wine Bandit! Brilliant! I’d be more likely to be a Peanut Butter Bandit myself 🙂
Any bandit is a good bandit I think – particularly if that have “tremendous character”.
What a description! If I drank wine I’d definitely be tempted.
Just as well you don’t drink then probably!
The quality of Australian wines is now so well established that few nations can compete with them. Like Guy I find some of the adjectives used to describe them rather bewildering – the nashi pear one particularly so.
That’s great to hear Tom … it’s hard to know over here whether reports we hear are overly optimistic or whether our wines really are starting to hold their own. The adjectives are wonderful! I love to read them…