One Bottle of Wine Too Many for Australian State Premier · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Who would have thought that a bottle of wine could generate 7 of the top 10 twitter trends in Australia. The gift of a $A 3000 [$US 2800] 1959 Grange Hermitage red has been the downfall of New South Wales State Premier Barry O’Farrell. The witness stand at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) was not the place to have a “massive memory fail”. A handwritten letter of thanks has exposed his flawed testimony and triggered his resignation.
Penfold's Grange 1959 – Image: Dan Murphy's
Breaking News is a boon for tweets. These were inevitable:
maybe he shouldn't have drunk the whole bottle if he wanted to remember it #grangegate
— Victoria Isaac (@visaac) April 16, 2014
Typical lazy media must u add "gate" to a word every time there's a political "scandal"? #grangegate is not anything.
— David (@undeactiv8) April 16, 2014
The thank-you note went viral, of course:
Former NSW Premier O'Farrell confident his #GrangeGate thank you note can achieve more RTs than Ellen's Oscar selfie: pic.twitter.com/XhOWje7oMJ
— Josh Nelson (@philmology) April 16, 2014
There was quite a lot of online chatter about whether the 1959 vintage of the iconic Penfold's wine was worth the price. Ben Cubby, deputy editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, linked to his newspaper’s wine writer:
Here's a review of the mysterious 1959 Grange by Fairfax wine expert Huon Hooke: http://t.co/lgCxV1vdcN #ICAC #grangegate
— Ben Cubby (@bencubby) April 16, 2014
There was even a fake note from a fake politician [The real Christopher Pyne is Federal Education minister and a member of the same political party as O'Farrell]:
Wow I hope they don't find Barry's notes to me. #auspol #nswpol pic.twitter.com/FcCHAWH8Dt
— Fake Chris Pyne (@FakeChrisPyne) April 16, 2014
The Premier was spared nothing:
With the benefit of hindsight O'Farrell would have been better off denying he had sexual relations with that bottle. #Grangegate
— Good Sir Knight (@BrigadierSlog) April 16, 2014
It was supposed to be a eventful day for the Premier. He was to give a media conference with Prime Minister Tony Abbott to announce road funding for a second Sydney airport and to host a civic reception at the Sydney Opera House for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Apparently he missed both.
1959 was the year of Barry O'Farrell's birth.
Barry O'Farrell – Image: Toby Hudson, Wikimedia CC Attribution 2.5