Jeffrey Daley is one of a group of wine lovers I’m fortunate to belong to, a group that meets for a special dinner with precious old bottles 2-3 times a year. I opened the latest issue of Gourmet Traveller Wine yesterday, and there was Jeffrey checking out some old Burgundies – his favourites.
The GTW article by Peter Forrestal describes Jeffrey as a ‘Sydney-based wine lover with a formidable cellar and a fascination (obsession) with the great wines of the world.’ All true but I know Jeffrey as an urbane, charming and generous fellow with no pretensions of any kind – he’s really down to earth and a lot of fun to spend time with.
Last year, I wrote a piece about Len Evans’ posthumously released book Not My Memoirs, and one of the things I deplored was that we didn’t get to know the real Len Evans in these pages (I never knew him). That provoked many comments from my fellow wine lovers, and I listed some of these in a piece I called Len Evans, Anders Ousback & Les Années de Pèlerinage – Stories from the Bulletin Place front line, with apologies to Franz Liszt. Jeffrey’s insights were especially helpful:
Hello Kim,
I appreciate your discourse on Len Evans. It opened many memories of obsessive passions given to wine around Len. I loved this era and the times I spent with him, in particular with the younger members of his staff from the beginning of the 70s, a number of whom became lifelong friends. I also made similarly close friends amongst other moths drawn to the bright Evans flame.
I first met Paul Ferman at Len’s ‘Bulletin wine club’ premises on Parramatta Rd, Leichhardt, in 1971. Also Nick Bullied. This Est. was being run by John Parkinson and offered a tasting room full of now mythical Oz wines. Len created this wine club through the Bulletin magazine column he was writing in and was prompted to do so by its editor (?) who loved long lunches and much wine. It was a big cash-cow contributor to Bulletin Place.
One Saturday afternoon in May 1971, during a drop-in visit, John opened Penfolds 1962 Bin 60a and Woodleys ‘56 “skeleton”. (I ordered 2 of the 60a, John dialled a number and pretty soon a blue Lancia sports car pulled up and out popped Anne Tyrrell with bottles in hand. We drank another of the 60a and went out to dinner.
Slippery devils, I don’t know what happened to the second bottle but I didn’t go home with it!! Anne was managing Lens Bulletin Place rooms. John managed the club for many years, assisted by Helen Guy (married to Colin ). Anne (now Anne Ellis, Hanging Rock ), John and Paul became my life-long, close friends.
Anders Ousbach was another, rather gifted member of Lens team. I got to know Anders well, but he too was a very complex, flawed, intriguing character that gave Len oxygen, adding to Len’s mystique. Anders opened many great wines for me, and I remember one lunch at his Hunters Hill home (actually, he was living with David Ell, who had exquisite taste in esthetiques) with myself and Tony Bilson, where Anders opened a 1911 Haut Brion, which was incredibly youthful.
Anders broke many a bottle. He was showing a Bulletin Place patron how he dropped an incredibly rare and expensive German wine (1959 Erbacher Marcobrunner Beerenauchlese ….. I really can remember most wines I’ve had over 40 years of drinking … It’s amazing, but I can) by juggling it, and dropping it, so, true to Anders style, he started juggling, and dropped the second bottle. Len was soooo pissed-off.
Len, I believe , loved the trio of Anne, John and Anders. He thought highly of Ferman and shaped his palate. I met Peter Snowball in the early years of the 70s, introduced by Anne at one of Lens wine tutorials. I instantly liked Peter and observed he had an “Englishman’s palate” with a love of German whites and “Claret”.
Len ran many great tutorials in the 70s. We hear of the ” Len Evans Tutorials ” of the modern era post Len, but in the 70s they were truly amazing. I remember seeing O’shea wines from the 40s. The number of DRC wines (Domaine de la Romanee Conti) we could easily then buy and frequently drank via Evans Est. would today seem a lie to the Parker generation. Len was above all very generous. Incredibly so. He opened many, many great wines for Ferman and me over various occasions and I saw the private man that people mystify about.
I owe him!! I won’t argue with the Philip White assessment. I too have thought those things about Len. He had big faults, but he had a big, generous heart for those he liked. Loyalty was sacrosanct to him. And, as I have just said, I owe him.
Thanks Kim. Your jottings on this last of Evans is truly a sketch of a very real, human character we were lucky enough to have had. Love him or criticise him, I certainly loved this era.
Very best Regards.
Jeffrey Daley.
Jeffrey also took the time to share some insights into the enigmatic Anders Ousback:
Ah, yes , Anders Ousback. Now he really was an intriguing fellow. He was admired greatly, beyond this countries embryonic food & wine scene, by the likes of Michael Broadbent and Hugh Johnson. They thought his palate was exceptional and his knowledge of great French wine quite unusual. He moved to England in the late 70s/early 80s, although he had confounded Broadbent in Australia on prior occasions … picking at blind tastings what Broadbent thought was impossibly difficult French wines. He even gave some lectures at the ‘ Masters of Wine ‘ program in London, but I don’t know how this came to pass.
Anders had an intuitive feeling for wine. He ‘understood’ it, if that’s possible to claim. And blending opened bottle left-overs at the end of an evening’s tasting at Evans Est. was his skilful play thing. Peter Snowball remembers well this game of his and the longevity of his blended concoctions would surprise even the most seasoned wine maker. Even Broadbent fell for one…. .. ‘You rotter !!!’ ( Terry Thomas style ).
Blending:
At lunch one day in the late 70s , Anders plonked down on the table a masked bottle and asked me ‘ local or imported ?’ Hmmm? Welllll, ‘LOCAL’, I whimsically cried. He paused, then as if he were addressing an audience, then he declared ’all those who said BOTH are correct.’ The bugger had blended classed Bordeaux slops with Coonawarra slops. Actually, it was very good as I recall.
Then, he plonked down another masked bottle…’ Local or imported ?’ Oh, alright , I’m up to your little game, I cunningly thought…. ‘IMPORTED AND LOCAL’ ….just try and trick this little rooster again, will you. ‘All those who said imported ONLY, are correct …. it’s 1928 Montrose!’ ‘Ohh, double bugger!!!???’ He too, like Evans, was incredibly generous with wine friends.
Thank you, Jeffrey, for your wonderful insights and your generosity of spirit.
Kim