You're late for a party, got to jump on a junk, and you've forgotten the wine. Oh blast, you dash into a supermarket; there's no time for scholarly contemplation. Grab something, anything.
In cases like this, look for the oval. That's the proud label of Brown Brothers' winery of northeast Victoria. It matters not what's in the bottle; as long as it bears that distinctive label with the oval laying on its side, you know for certain it's a good, reliable wine.
This happened to me last week when I had promised to take a dozen bottles to a dusk junk trip. It had totally slipped my mind. So I skipped into the nearest Wellcome, confronted the well-stocked wine section - and was stumped. What to buy? These days, that can be a challenge in Hong Kong, now that we have wines of the world to choose from. I grabbed six chardonnays ($135 each) and a half-dozen cabernet sauvignon ($113.50). The white is a cheerful sort of swigging wine. The red is a very good, nicely ageing wine that was terrific with supper.
You can get cheaper wines these days in our supermarkets. It's hard to get better.
