CHEERS TO THAT - TIM ROBARDS
The Australian Men’s Cricket Captain has the second most important jobafter the Prime Minister’s, according to former teach coach and legendary cricketer, Darren Lehmann.
“I’m pretty disappointed about that,” Oz cricket skipper, Pat Cummins tells Australian Life. “I think it should be number one.”
Despite this banter, Cummins is actually humbled by his role. It’s something that he always dreamt about while growing up in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales where he played junior cricket for the Glenbrook-Blaxland Cricket Club. It also inspired him to play first grade for the Penrith District Football Club at the spike-shod foot of the mountains.
Now in its second vintage of just 8,000 bottles, it’s ready to take on even the most expensive rosé in the market.
“The goal is to make the best rosé wine in Australia,” a proud Robards tells Australian Life.
His collaboration with the highly regarded wine connoisseur and winemaker, Shun Eto of VinoEd, started during lockdown, when he took part in one of Eto’s curated Zoom wine experiences. Later, the pair toyed with the idea of starting their own wine label.
The light bulb moment came when Robards’ eldest daughter, Elle, was born.
‘At that time I was playing a big wine mogul, Pierce Greyson, on Neighbours and the idea just popped into my head,” he explains.
He and Eto then joined forces with one of Australia’s best winemakers, Alex McKay of Collector Wines, who is based at the Hilltops wine region of New South Wales.
“We wanted to take it slowly with just 1,000 bottles in our first year before increasing to 8,000 bottles and next year it will increase again,” he says.
Robards believes that what makes Elle Rosé such a standout in its class is partly the aroma.
“It’s the Australian florals on the nose, the perfume of it,” he explains “It’s still a dry rosé but people may perceive it as sweet because it has the floral aromatics.”
“You might be doing a workout to lose weight but then you’re putting the sugary stuff into your body which does the opposite,” he points out.
“It basically renders your workout useless.”
PACE, which is a clear drink far removed from the lurid colour of most sports beverages, is available in three flavours - lemon lime, peach and watermelon. It’s sure to be the look and the taste of a long hot Australian summer.
Pat Cummins will of course be in the thick o it but he’s also involved in a few projects that have taken him into the very heart of Australia.
Shortly after he and his wife, Becky, welcomed Albie into the world, Cummins became a UNICEF Ambassador as he wanted to do something positive for indigenous children in some of Australia’s most remote areas.
He flew to Borroloola, in the Northern Territory where the Indi Kindi Program is supported by UNICEF in partnership with the Moriarty Foundation. Led by local Aboriginal women, Indi Kindi integrates education, health and wellbeing for children in isolated townships.
“Education has always been important in my life,” Cummins explains. “My mum Maria was a teacher and I also had the opportunity of gaining a university education but it’s something that can’t be taken for granted.
“Indi Kindi really focuses on the first 1000 days as building blocks for the rest of the children’s lives, hoping it can make a difference to education and health outcomes,” he says.
Cummins loved his time spent at Barroloola, kicking back on the banks of the McArthur River, surrounded by laughing children.
“Being there really took me outside of the cricket bubble,” he says.”
It is a great way to bring you down to earth pretty quickly I feel really lucky to be in this position where I can be involved.”
ANNA ROBARDS
She shot to fame on the inaugural season of The Bachelor, where she met Tim, but now Anna Robards is a high-flying Aussie businesswoman with her own wellness brand. Just a few weeks after giving birth to her second daughter, the high-profile influencer is preparing to take her product globally after signing with Mecca in Australia and launching their wellness category.
