One Bottle of Wine Too Many for Australian State Premier

Grange 59

Penfold's Grange 1959 – Image: Dan Murphy's

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.

Breaking News is a boon for tweets. These were inevitable:

The thank-you note went viral, of course:

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:

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]:

The Premier was spared nothing:

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.

Barry O'Farrell

Barry O'Farrell – Image: Toby Hudson, Wikimedia CC Attribution 2.5


1959 was the year of Barry O'Farrell's birth.

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