The holy ground Rosemary Stanton may know a bit about nutrition but does she understand the essential nature of “The Food Groups”? I have been a long term advocate of what I consider to be the essential elements of a balanced diet, the principles of which I began to formulate at a family Christmas party many years ago in collaboration with Jen's Uncle Rennie. The food triangle, the food pyramid, or whatever geometric shape the nutritionist is likely to propose, is well and good but in reality one should balance the colours of red and white to achieve a balance in nutrition. Too much Cabernet and insufficient Riesling is likely to cause a nutritional imbalance, often presenting as boredom, tiredness or the loss of will to drink yet another glass of the same old stuff. At the extreme, too much fortified wine, for example can often lead to a serious nutritional imbalance characterized by a headachey feeling of not-so-well-ness. In the Clare Valley in South Australia it is possible to find the absolute perfect balance of the essential food groups. Nowhere else on earth can you find, in close proximity, all the food groups in such outstandingly great volumes and quality. Red and white. I confess, I have a passion for Riesling, but with good reason. Good Riesling is the all-purpose white wine, it starts out dry, flinty and lemony. After twenty years (or more) in the bottle it has mellowed to a dark yellow delight for the taste buds. The best Riesling in the Clare valley is not good Riesling, it's the best full stop. Chateau Tanunda's Short List 2006 Riesling was voted best Riesling in the world. I tried it at the cellar door and could find only one thing wrong with it … the price. It's really not that expensive at fifty dollars a bottle but for fifteen dollars I can buy a good Clare Valley Riesling leave it in the cellar for ten years and hey presto …. a fifty dollar Riesling. Who can wait ten years I hear you say? Well, now you know why we've had a cellar full of wine for the last twenty five years. Jesus, no doubt a lovely fellow, didn't do much wrong, the Romans weren’t impressed, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. When the water was turned to wine I'm guessing that it was Riesling. I say this for two reasons. Firstly, Riesling is the best wine and God, according to those who would convert me from my natural religion, does not settle for second best. Secondly, the fish, which if memory serves were always nearby when Jesus was poking about (there was always something fishy about that guy, other than him being a fisherman that is). The point is that fish and Riesling are a match made in heaven ( pun intended). With all these facts it occurs to me the Jesus was an Australian, probably from the Clare Valley and who spent at least some time in the Gulf of Carpentaria (not the other gulf) trying to hook a big fish to go with his excellent Riesling. If this is the case then the Clare Valley is truly … the holy ground.

South Australia … littered with old stone ruins of several bygone eras. Wheat gone, wool

gone, grazing going. The latest era, the new gold ... Canola.