Just back from a week in Tassie with the wife, sans kids (who were having their own awesome holiday at nan and pops and getting spoiled rotten).
Here is a bit of a summary of what we got up to. It is in very summary form but happy to chat with anyone who is heading down there and has any questions. Go 95% of the wine we bought shipped back so can't even remember exactly what we bought, but got some recollection of the better stuff.
Day 1
Arrived in Hobart. Checked in to Henry Jones Art Hotel. Free upgrade, sweet. Nice hotel, a bit noisy. Very convenient spot and friendly staff.
Went for a drink (not our last) at Grape wine bar. Cool place with a good list by the glass and enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff.
Garagistes has been sold and closed about 3 or 4 weeks ago, so we booked in to Me Wah. Amazing food, big and impressive wine list without being particularly creative. My wife is still raving about the food, best chinese we have had and the staff were really great. Had a bottle of 2012 William Downie Pinot from Gippsland. After a bit of a decant it opened up some and was quite nice, definitely good potential in the next 4-6 years(?)
Day 2
Next morning went and picked up the hire car from Europcar. Very friendly guys. Had booked a Passat. The car was coming from the airport and this kept us waiting for about 10 minutes, so they upgraded us to a Mercedes C200 instead for free. Nice car to drive around Tassie in, nothing special at all but it was good fun on some of the gnarly roads and certainly more comfortable than your average hire car.
Off to the Coal River Valley where we visited
Frogmore Creek (19 minutes from our hotel, so awesome). A bit commercial, friendly enough staff but a bit disinterested. Decent tasting list, a bit disappointed their better pinot was not on tasting and they had a few museum release wines that were not also, which I guess is fair enough. Riesling and iced Riesling was quite decent, the rest didn't leave an impression.
Puddleduck. Small winery, small list of about half a dozen on taste. Super, super friendly staff. We got talking to Michelle who was pouring for us for maybe 45+ minutes about wine, the vineyard, what our plans were, recommendations and all sorts of stuff. She gave us some really solid tips. My best memory is the chardonnay was quite decent and I think we bought a bottle or two of this and also the pinot, just because it was such a pleasant experience.
Pooley. In the top 3 most stunning cellar doors we visited. Cellar door was being staffed by a family member of the owners/winemaker. Seemed a bit distant at first but like at most cellar doors, once they worked out you were not there to try and get a bit tipsy for free she really opened up. Again, we probably spent about 30-40 minutes here chatting and tasting. They were sold out of the premium pinot Butcher's Hill but had most everything else except back vintages on tasting. Most of the wines were decent but I preferred the pinots and bought a few as well as a 2009 back vintage they had on the strength of current vintage.
We then went into Richmond, a cute little village, for lunch. We ended up at the Clemens Hill Cellar Door and Kitchen, formerly Richmond Wine Centre, for a tasting and some tapas. Food was good an the owner of Clemens Hill was on hand to pour for us. Nice guy. The wines mostly didn't stand out, but they had a 2008 Aurelia Chardonnay on tasting which has only recently been released. Still super fresh, good acid, lots of fruit flavour. Was really interesting, still tasting very young. Bought a few to see how it travels. If the acid settles and it balances a bit more this will be really nice I think.
Next stop was Domaine A. We were served by Ruth, one of the owners. An interesting character who we had a good chat with and who was pouring very generous samples. Some interesting wines (like the $60 Lady A Savvy B!) and some very good wines (like the current release 2006 Cab Sav. I haven't tried their wines before and the 2006 Cab kind of blew me away. I wasn't expecting it, although I had heard a bit about their wines, but I really liked it. Bought a few, as well as some 2001 and 2005 they had on hand. We had a few bottles from the other vineyards to make up a case but were 1 short, so Ruth threw in a Lady A for us. Whilst someone was getting our details she poured me another glug of the 2006 Cab Sav, pretty generous since they sell it at $120 a bottle. We later had the opportunity to revisit the Petit a Cab Merlot at dinner one night and it was decent too, but not great value.
Having lingered at a few of the vineyards it was time to complete the trip over to MONA where we checked into one of the Pavilions. GREAT accommodation. Apart from anything else, comes stocked wit a Liebherr in the kitchen loaded with both local and imported wines, including Pol Roger, Egly-Ouriet, Clonakilla, Yeringberg and Ata Rangi, at not ridiculous prices. Moorilla Estate cellar door is here but we actually didn't try their wines except the complimentary sparkling in the Pavilion, which was ok but not great.
Had dinner at The Source at MONA. Great view, nice staff but lacking polish. Food was quite good but not as good as they think it is. Wine list loaded up with big names.
Next day went to MONA. Impressive building, the ancient art was cool, the modern stuff not my thing.
Headed off to the Freycinet area. Stopped at
Milton Vineyard Very small family run place, nice owner on deck to pour, interesting pinot rose, Riesling and pinot were decent.
Spring Vale Amazing cellar door in a converted sandstone stable built in 1840-ish. Chardonnay and pinot were decent. They sell pretty much the full range in bottles and half bottles, with only a small premium on the half bottles. Bought a few half bottles of the pinot and chardy. Resisted some of the museum stock they had including a 6 vintage vertical pack of pinot.
Freycinet Vineyard. Prior to going to Tassie, one of my favourite Tasmanian labels and remains the case. The girl on the tasting bench was a bit quirky and odd but very friendly. Sold out of 2002 Radenti (but I subsequently scored some at Gasworks in Hobart) but everything else was on tasting. The premium chardonnay and both pinots particularly good, but Riesling and sticky also decent. Already have some 2013 Freycinet Pinot so bought a few of the other one and the chardonnay. Claudio, the winemaker, had agreed to show me around after I emailed him in advance of our trip and said I was a fan. Unfortunately they were right in the middle of picking and all sorts of stuff when we arrived (the day before we had planned to) but Claudio came to say hello and have a yarn.
Went and checked in to Freycinet Lodge. Nice room, comfy bar area with an open fire, hearty food (the rabbit was good).
Next morning went on a hike then checked out and headed to Launceston via the coast road up to St Helens. Great fun drive if you have a little extra time. As we headed in towards Launceston we stopped at
Jansz Friendly lady pouring and even though it was getting late in the day she opened a fresh bottle of one of the wines for us. They didn't have the blanc de blanc on tasting but the vintage sparkler, I think 2009, was quite good. Even my wife, a champagne snob who disses domestic bubbles every chance, enjoyed it a lot. Bought a couple and a BdB as a punt.
Next had to decide between Delamere and Bay of Fires (Arras). Wife was keen to try more sparkles so reluctantly headed to Bay of Fires instead of Delamere. Wish we had gone the other way. They took ages to acknowledge us. Mostly only had their stills on pour, just a NV sparkling and sparkling rose on taste because it was late Friday afternoon and they didn't want to open anything fresh until the next day. The sparkling rose was flat. The still wines were uninspiring. She suggested we come back the next day for a more full tasting list (35 minutes from Launceston). yeah right.
Headed into Launceston. We stayed at the 242 Apartments. Highly highly recommend. Great accommodation, good spot, off street parking. Fridge was stocked with egg, juice, bread and jams but we had breakky at Café Mondello downstairs both mornings. Excellent coffee and awesome food. Can't recommend enough if you are in Launceston.
We had dinner at Black Cow first night, basically an upmarket steak joint. Quite good. Second night we ate at Stillwater. Service was patchy and the food quite good, but not as good as they thought it was. Had a 2010 Apsley Gorge Pinot and it was super.
Visited the Launceston Design Centre where they had an exhibition of Tasmanian furniture. Very cool and whilst only a small exhibit, well worth a visit and the $6 entry free.
On day 2 in Launceston we went to
Holm Oak Very friendly and knowledgeable staff. Good wine, especially the pinot, 2009 Riesling on pour also quite good. Bought some bits and pieces but resisted the 6 vintage vertical of Riesling and pinot they had. Was really tempted on both.
Goaty Hill Owner/winemaker was pouring. Really nice guy. Food platters looked great. Nothing jumped out at me but the chardonnay was decent and I bought a bottle.
Moores Hill Wine maker's wife was pouring. Blanc de Blanc sparkling was quite good and I bought a bottle. Small list but decent all round. Had a cheese platter and it was nice, especially the pinot paste. Chaardy was pretty decent too.
Velo Restaurant here looked really good but we couldn't hold out that long for lunch so had the cheese platter mentioned above. Quite a long list on tasting, nothing really jumped out at me but the guy behind the bar was fun (wine maker's nephew I think).
Stoney Rise The tasting bench was a plastic table in a shed as this is a very simple operation. We were served by Joe, the owner/winemaker. Took a while to warm up but was friendly in a quiet sort of way. I think he was exhausted, his hands were dark purple and he obviously does a lot of the hands on work himself. His two wines made with half estate fruit and half contract fruit were ok (a pinot and chardy), the chardy being the pick of the two. His two estate pinots, the Holyman and Holyman X were very good, but quite exxy. I bought one of each as I am interested to revisit them down the track as I think they will hold up really well. Had a shed full of cases of other wine as he has a background in distribution and distributes down there for some mainland wineries including Hoddles Creek.
Next day on the way out of town we visited Josef Chromy. Ridiculously long list on tasting, like 19 wines or something, so skipped some. 2009 vintage sparkler was good and a sparkling Riesling was quite interesting, so bought each. The chardonnay was really nice. The restaurant looked great and they were getting ready for a big BBQ with some jazz out on the lawn which looked like a lot of fun, but we had to hot tail back to Hobart.
On the way back in to Hobart we hit Stefano Lubiana. Premium Chardonnay and all 3 pinots quite good (yes, they had their $120 a bottle premium pinot on tasting, and generous pours). We were served by the winemaker's wife, nice woman but this was one of the busier cellar doors and she was flat out. We didn't have a booking and couldn't get a table at the restaurant which looked awesome, so settled for a really nice anti pasti plater at a communal table, which was fun as we spoke to a few locals. Didn't buy any wine as I thought the prices were a bit steep and they are able to be obtained elsewhere anyhow.
Back to Hobart where we stayed at The Islington Hotel. Awesome.
Also tried at Grape a few wines of places without cellar doors or that we didn't get to, including
2013 Apsley Gorge Chardonnay, very nice.
2013 Glaetzer Dixon Mon Pere Shiraz. Very nice, maybe needs more time, really interesting cool climate Shiraz. I picked up a few of these and some 2012's I dug up.
I feel like I have missed a winery but I can't remember which one...
Had dinner with a fishing buddy in Hobart. Checked out the Lark Distillery cellar door and had a tasting. Unfortunately the guy behind the counter who served us was a bit clueless. The whiskys were good but I couldn't justify the price tag.
Pilgrim café in Hobart does very nice breakfast and lunch and has good coffee. Well worth a visit.
Interestingly, we had nearly every cellar door except Stefano Lubiana, Holm Oak and Spring Vale to ourselves. Some of it may have been because we visited a lot of the wineries on weekdays, but speaking to the people it seems that immediately after Easter things quieten right off. It was a lovely time to be down there with picking still happening and the leaves turning yellow.
All in all I enjoyed quite a bit of the wine, in particular the chardonnays and pinots. Some of the Rieslings were really good as were some dessert wines and the odd surprise red or bubble. A lot of vineyards are doing a sauvignon blanc in more of a fume style to get away from the grassy acid bomb type image and there are some interesting ones. However, overall I am just not sure that the QPR is quite there for me. I bought a reasonable amount of wine on the basis the people were super friendly, they were small operators, it is not available everywhere and I was happy to pay a bit over the odds to support them, but realistically a lot of the wine (not all of it), for me, was probably a price bracket too high. A lot of $35-$45 wines that probably belonged $10 a bottle cheaper.
That being said, we had a terrific week and I would do it all again, with one or two modifications, in a flash.
A few wineries that were recommended either by people here or by people at other vineyards that we didn't get to include
Home Hill
Winstead
Delamere
Kelvedon
Brook Eden
Sinapius
Sorry that was all a bit general but like I said, open to questions. Also figured if I made it too much more detailed I probably wouldn't get around to actually typing it up!
