We got the story behind the video of "Drinky Bill," breakout marsupial Chardonnay critic. Plus, an NPR wine club for listeners who could use a drink, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James toast to wine and gold, and cork artist Edgar Degas.

"You're seriously not getting the notes of eucalyptus? This thing is a eucalyptus bomb!"

(Photo: The Lane Vineyard)

Down Under, mates swirl their wine counterclockwise, drinkers pronounce the silent Z in "Syrah," and instead of finding TCA and brett lurking about the cellars, one winemaker has been dealing with an invasion of … an adorable koala. Nick Dugmore discovered a surprise visitor from the bush lounging around the winery one morning last week. So he and his team at the Lane Vineyard in Adelaide Hills did as anyone would for a prospective new wine club member: Offer his marsupial guest a sample.

Video of Drinky Bill the Koala smelling the Australian white wine Beginning Chardonnay. (Video: Nick Dugmore / Youtube)

Dugmore recounted his encounter with the koala, dubbed "Drinky Bill" in homage to Oz' beloved cartoon koala Blinky Bill. “I turned up to work and got a shock when I spotted Drinky just sitting peacefully on the railing. He was very relaxed and a bit dozy, typical of a koala. I thought it would be amusing to offer our new furry friend a smell of the wine,” Dugmore told Unfiltered via email. So he drew a barrel sample of Chardonnay. “It would be a very unique aroma for a koala, and he was suitably intrigued, seeming to double back for a second sniff. He was there for about six hours and then climbed down and stumbled away like he was leaving the local pub.”

"I'm a big proponent of this 'Slow Food' movement. I mean, not just because I'm a koala." (Photo: The Lane Vineyard)

Unlike some Aussie wine folks who've been known to get huffy when their product is associated with oft-stereotyped characters like, say, a yellow-suited good-time block and his wine-swilling, record-scratching kangaroo sidekick, the Chardonnay specialists at the Lane would be happy to see their outback pal again. “We’ve put a case aside for Drinky to get his koalified opinion. We’re hoping he’ll be back to sign off on the Chardonnays before they go to bottle!”

Source: Wine Spectator, The Lane Vineyard