Greetings from Carrboro,

You’re supposed to spit. That’s after the swirling and slushing necessary to mark you as a wine professional. And usually into a champagne bucket or some other necessarily opaque vessel/spittoon. When the server put one on the table, the large man across from me looked alarmed. “You can take that away, mate. I didn’t bring this stuff all the way from Australia to waste it.” He winked at me conspiratorially. “Right?” And before I could say a word he added, “But you can bring me a kangaroo cocktail.” At the server’s bafflement, he clarified, “A vodka martini, very dry.” To his credit, it was almost noon.

The man had three martinis and at least two bottles of wine in the 90 minutes that we were at lunch. Cross my heart. It was one hell of an introduction to Australian wine. He told stories and opened bottle after bottle. It was dizzying. Literally. He made everyone at the luncheon stand up and say “shiraz” correctly before any of us could head back to our various jobs. And then he was off to Raleigh for the dinnertime performance. I don’t know how he did it.

That must have been spring of 2000. Well before Yellowtail came along and swiped all the mojo from the smaller Australian wine producers – just as the movie Sideways similarly crushed the market for California merlot. But the truth is that in 2023 Australia remains a vibrant and wildly diverse wine producing part of the world. Sadly, we just don’t get a chance to taste those wines in the US. Let me rephrase that; we don’t often get a chance to taste them. And, well, I think it’s about time we fixed that.

On Monday, September 11th, Acme is teaming up with Noah Ward from the trailblazing Australian winery Unico Zelo for a late summer feast. We will be featuring five of their wines (not a single shiraz!) that are fantastic examples of the cutting edge of modern wine making – not just in Australia but the world over. And the Acme kitchen will be pairing each wine with vibrant dishes to showcase that diversity. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

The Acme wine dinner with Unico Zelo. Tickets are $75 per person. Menu is below. We will get started at 6:30 with the doors opening at 6:00. As always, tickets are limited and are sold on a first come, first served basis. If you’re going to have three martinis, go ahead and download the Uber app if you haven’t already.

Acme is now open on Mondays! Huzzah! And that includes Labor Day.

This weekend @ Acme: flash-fried flounder with boiled peanut, tomato, and charred jalapeno sauce. Shooting Point oysters on the half shell. Southern tomato pie. Brown turkey fig handpie. Summertime okra gumbo. Acme tomato plate. Pecan-crusted fried chicken. Chili crusted New York strip steak. Pan-seared mahi-mahi. Brussels sprouts. Acme wedge salad. Overnight beef short ribs. Watermelon & tomato salad. Blackened salmon. Fried oyster po’ boy sliders. Acme smashburgers. Tuna nicoise. Peach cobbler. And plenty of cold beverages to wash it all down.

Well, that’s all the news from Carrboro. The staff at Acme look forward to serving you soon.

Cheers,
The Staff at Acme