Toasting Tasmania

The wine and food produce of Tasmania is exciting. On mainland Australia, Tasmania evokes a special image - there is history, a cold climate, and the production of European crops that don't do so well in warmer parts to the north.

Tassie was known as the "Apple Isle" for decades - the apples are still grown and they are delicious! Apples need a cold climate. There is not just a choice of green or red! Rather, there is a choice of names such as Fuji, Jonathon, Democrat and Cox Orange Pippin. In summer there are European cold climate fruits and berries - raspberries, strawberries, apricots,cherries and herbs. Tasmanian seafood is from cold water - Atlantic salmon, ocean trout, blue-eye, orange roughy and as well oysters and abalone.

The dairy industry deserves a special mention - Cadbury have a chocolate factory in Tasmania! The cheeses are famous - Heidi is a famous name and amongst their range is the prize winning gruyere. Other brand names are a roll call of the best cheese names - King Island, Lactos, Ashgrove, Pyengana and Mella Lacrum. Look for brie, washed rind and cheddars. There is also goats cheese.

The wines of Tasmania have a special place - the quest for a cool climate to make wine in Australia has been a big issue for 25 years. A cold climate is able to achieve delicacy of flavour not seen in warmer regions. Obviously Tasmania offers a cold climate by Australian standards - it is still hot in summer but has cool average temperatures! It is important to recognise that a cool climate does not automatically equal quality wine - in fact some of Australia's most famous wines are from warm areas. Think of Hunter semillons, Barossa shiraz and even McLaren Vale is considered a mildly warm climate. There have been studies by various Tasmanian producers to show that their vineyard climate is quite close to the classical cool regions of Champagne and Burgundy in northern France. Most wine producers are small and the owners and/or winemakers are very "hands on". They have had a small but high quality production and usually fetched a high price for their produce. Therefore many of the cellar door facilities are beautifully built and may include restaurants with views, superb tasting areas, architecturally designed barrel halls and so on. Magnificent facilities are located at Pipers Brook and Rosevears Estate (both near Launceston) and Moorilla Estate and Domaine A / Stoney Vineyard (both near Hobart). The Tasmanian tourist industry is strong and well organised and visits to wineries are very established. There are great travel brochures available - see a travel agent, call 07 3405 4122, or look at www.tourism.tas.gov.au.

You can think of the Tasmanian wine regions as being in three general areas. The first is the north coast which includes the area around Devonport, the Tamar Valley of Launceston, and the Pipers River area to the north east of Launceston. The second broad region is the east coast stretching from near Hobart north up to Bicheno. The third region is around Hobart - here there are important sub regions of the Coal River Valley which is north and inland from Hobart, the Derwent Valley up the river west from Hobart, and the Huon Valley south of Hobart. The mildest climate is the north - although Pipers River and Devonport can still be cold. The Tamar Valley is moderated by the river estuary and most vineyards slope down to the water. It is here that small amounts of cabernet and even shiraz are grown and produce good wine in better years where you would expect that it is too cold for such varieties. Tasmania generally does well with the cold climate grapes - riesling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay and pinot noir.

Pipers Brook dominates the northern region - it is a large estate and has been established since 1974. There is a great range of wines. Currently there is a huge program underway to develop their pinot noir further by using new plantings of special Burgundy clones. South of Launceston is a large new vineyard called "Old Stornoway" which is dedicated to supplying grapes to Pipers Brook. Nearby small producers include Dalrymple (chardonnay and pinot noir) and Delamere (known for their pinot noirs). On the Tamar River, Tamar Ridge is a significant producer. The winemaker is Julian Alcorso who was at Moorilla Estate for many years. Tamar Ridge wines include a chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir, all with forward fresh fruit characters. Rosevears is new and one to watch. St Matthias is owned by Moorilla Estate and has fresh forward styles. Sharman's is just on the southern outskirts of Launceston and has a lovely pinot noir and a "German" style riesling with very fresh tingling acid floral characters.

The regions around Hobart are coldest and the challenge here is to grow grapes out of the wind. On the banks of the Huon River it is especially cold. A wine label here to seek is Panorama, especially the pinot noir if you can find some. There chardonnay and sauvignon blanc are also excellent with lifted fruity characters. Home Hill is new but already have lovely chardonnays and pinot noirs. Springvale is another label to watch - as well as a chardonnay and pinot noir there is a pinot gris which provides some exotic interest.

Moorilla Estate is just west of Hobart on the Derwent River. The wines are excellent and widely available. There is a restaurant and a fabulous museum there - the latter features, wait for it, antiquities! There are items from ancient Egypt and South America and a historic coin/money collection. The wine range includes a gewurztraminer, riesling, chardonnay and two pinot noirs - the "Black Label" and the "Reserve". The first is a fruity style, the "Reserve" has rich complex flavours. From their Tamar vineyards there is a cabernet, a shiraz and a merlot - all currently from the 1998 vintage and showing that in such a warm year, these grapes do well. Further west along the Derwent is Meadowbank. They are also planting vineyards in the Coal River Valley north of Hobart. Their riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir are excellent, especially a reserve pinot noir called "Henry James".

The Coal River Valley just to the north of Hobart has a great future - it could be quite a large region. The historic village of Richmond offers tourist interest. Domaine A / Stoney Vineyard are here and achieved fame - much of their produce sells at high prices in Switzerland and some is available in Australia. Stony Vineyard Cabernet is quite a big tannic red. Stoney Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is a very good sophisticated style - plenty of fruit but also complex and balanced. Domaine A Pinot Noir is the flagship - a big flavour with lots of berry richness. The Domaine A Cabernet is also excellent and shows a "European" rather than Australian flavour with big cedar tannin flavours. Also here is Wellington Wines where Andrew Hood makes wines for this label as well as doing contract winemaking for many other small producers around. Wellington wines are fruity and soft. There is an excellent Iced Riesling - a dessert style made as Icewine. An intriguing project is a vineyard called 572 Ricmond Road which has been set up by a Brisbane couple called Carney!

Sparkling wines are important in Tasmania - the grapes for quality wines are pinot noir and chardonnay and they must have high natural acidity - this means a cold climate and Tasmania has great potential. Already the top Australian sparklers such as Arras and Domaine Chandon utilise Tasmanian grapes. Pirie is from Pipers Brook. Clover Hill is owned and made by Taltarni but the vineyards are near Launceston. A wonderful wine is Lake Barrington "Alexandra" from south of Devonport.

See also Greame Phillips' pieces on Tasmanian wine and Tasmanian produce and Mietta on Tasmania in winter.

Andrew Corrigan 2000