Taste of Tasmania 10/11

Hobart
Tasted Friday, December 31, 2010 by graemeg with 509 views

Introduction

The 2010 Taste of Tasmania was held in the usual Princes Wharf Shed venue in Hobart, this year the subject of a makeover to give the gloomy space bit of light. Looks a bit better, but the event has just about outgrown its venue. Only a short visit this year, just long enough to sample the following offerings:

Flight 1 - Bream Creek (East Coast) (8 Notes)

A Taste regular, although I was more impresed with their wines of a few years ago that the versions on offer today. Tricky recent vintages? Hard to say. ‘Reserve’ bottlings of pinot and chardonnay are generally worth seeking out; they have greater depth of flavour than their non-reserve siblings, and their sporadic release timetable (with suitable bottle age) at fair prices make them the genuine article.

  • 2009 Bream Creek Schönburger

    Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania

    {screwcap, 12.9%, A$23} All musk and gewurz-like aromas. Light-bodied, with sweet musk-perfume fruits. A dash of sugar left here? Still there’s enough acid to keep it lively and give it a medium-length finish. Pleasant and unusual and worth taking to an Asian restaurant.

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  • 2010 Bream Creek Sauvignon Blanc

    Australia, Tasmania

    {screwcap, $24} Bright, grassy and youthful. The flavours are a blend of asparagus and sweet lines, with quite strong tangy acid; it’s a light-medium bodied wine with a medium length finish. Good effort.

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  • 2008 Bream Creek Chardonnay

    Australia, Tasmania

    {screwcap, A$24} Barely any oak here. Actually, not a lot here generally. A little bit of nut and citrus on the palate, vaguely chardonnay-ish taste, light body, short finish. Lacks character.

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  • 2005 Bream Creek Chardonnay Reserve

    Australia, Tasmania

    {screwcap, 14%, A$34} Rich, aging nose of cashews and stonefruits along with some crisp oak. The palate tastes quite advanced, with decaying woody notes apparent and jostling interstingly with the tangy developing fruits. Good balance of flavour along the tongue, helped by a light tannic grip, the wine’s medium-bodied with a medium-length finish. I rather think it’s at peak now at five years of age, there’s just something about the spicy fruit that says it’s going to fade rather fast once it hits the downslope.

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  • 2009 Bream Creek Pinot Noir

    Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania

    {screwcap, A$33} Young nose of cherries and sap. The nose hints at coarseness, but the palate is much silkier in texture than anticipated. There are cherry/kirsch flavours, low-medium tannins, just a dusting of oak and medium acids; it all adds up to a light-medium bodied wine with a shortish finish sitting on the front and mid-palate. It’s OK, but getting expensive for what it is; might be better to wait for the Reserve wine which usually is twice the wine for 50% more money…

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  • 2008 Bream Creek Cabernet Merlot

    Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania

    {screwcap, A$27} Youthful nose of herbal, somewhat greenish aromas, bracken-like, but with a core of red fruit beneath if you work hard enough. The merlot (presumably) give some weight to the mid-palate, there are soft dusty tannins, but the flavours still tend toward the green end of the spectrum. It’s medium-bodied, but the finish fades rather too quickly to impress. Fair but hardly worth seeking out.

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  • 2008 Bream Creek Riesling VGR

    Australia, Tasmania

    {screwcap, 11.8%, A$22}. Soft floral nose. Coats the tongue quite well with white flowery fruits, is light-bodied, and very clearly off-dry. But it lacks persistence, or the sort of extra dimension to lift it away from a bland sweetness. Dull.

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  • 2010 Bream Creek Schönburger Late Harvest

    Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania

    {375ml, screwcap, A$24} We’ve skipped a few vintages here. Nine out of ten would pick the nose as gewurz, with a musk/tropical/turkish delight festival of aromas. The palate is medium-dry (ie. quiet sweet), but free from botrytis. It’s medium-weight, and despite being quite luscious has just enough tang to keep from cloying. Finishes cleanly, if a bit simple.

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Flight 2 - Holm Oak (Tamar Valley) (4 Notes)

Now under (relatively) new management – certainly my first chance to try the wines for a few years and since the days of Nick Butler. Also this is the first time they’ve had their own stand at the Taste. Four wines tasted, and all hit the mark.

  • 2009 Holm Oak Riesling

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, A$25} Light fresh nose of lime and citrus. Friendly enough, and giving no hint of the searing acid that greets you on the palate. Wow. Piercing flavours of wet stones and limes, still bone dry, but medium-bodied by virtue of its sheer power. The medium-long finish is encouraging, but it’s still very primal and should settle over a few years. Impressive.

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  • 2010 Holm Oak Sauvignon Blanc

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, A$25} A mainstream sort of gooseberry/lychee nose, but verging more on the olive/green side of the line rather than the tropical fruit one. Medium level of acid keeps the hint-of-asparagus flavours with plenty of tang; and the fruit coats most of the palate, which is encouraging. SB isn’t really my style of wine, but this is pretty good and more than a match for most wines coming out of Marlborough.

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  • 2009 Holm Oak Pinot Noir

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, A$32} Soft and restrained nose. Plums, spice and subtle oak. Authentic enough. A wine that ticks all the ‘light-medium’ boxes; it’s quite well-balanced, and with a fresh cut of acid. The flavours are quite soft; spicy red fruits in a savoury style, just ripe enough, finishing quite dry. I was expecting to be a bit more ‘whelmed’ by this; but despite its rather ethereal nature I’ll put my faith in its intrinsic balance for the medium term.

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  • 2009 Holm Oak Cabernet Sauvignon

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, A$32} As ever with Tasmanian cabernet, the herbal greenness strikes you first. But on the palate of this a little patience sees the emergence of geniunely ripe cassis and herb flavours. Oak treatment is modest, the medium tannins are quite fine, and the wine reaches about medium-bodied weight. Good palate coverage, even on the back of the tongue. Too young and needs time.

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Flight 3 - Josef Chromy (Tamar Valley) (5 Notes)

Wasn’t as bowled over by these wines as last year.

  • 2010 Josef Chromy Riesling

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, A$25} Subdued citrus aromas (served v cold). A powerful, linear, lime and citrus infused palate which drives the full length of the tongue, raging with acid, medium-bodied, and finishes bone dry and medium-long. A neck-snapper of a wine. Should civilise itself a bit in the shorter term. Could be great.

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  • 2010 Josef Chromy Sauvignon Blanc

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, A$25} Classic aromas of the variety in a non-extreme style. Typical gooseberry flavours are a little softer on the palate than the nose suggests, with a bathpowder flavour/texture that even manages a touch of phenolic grip. Plenty of acid for a generally zippy aura, light-medium body and a dry finish. OK wine.

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  • 2009 Josef Chromy Chardonnay

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, A$33} Nuts & figs, stonefruits and minerals. Tidy wine. Same on the palate, along with a seasoning of lees & french oak. Nicely even palate. Good stuff at a slightly ambitious price.

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  • 2009 Josef Chromy Pinot Noir

    Australia, Tasmania, Northern Tasmania

    {screwcap, A$33} Soft fruity nose of strawberries and a little oak. No green, stalks, or earth here. The low-key start is maintained; this is a light-bodied, straight-forward but sound pinot at the lighter, dry and savoury end of the scale. Sits rather a lot on the front palate, and can’t muster much depth or persistence generally. Something of a comedown from the last two vintages. Not a buy at this price.

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  • 2006 Josef Chromy Pinot Noir Zdar Flawed

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, A$48} Something of a flawed taste, with only the dregs of a bottle opened the day before offered, so oxidation was well in evidence. That aside, it had a richer, denser aspect to the nose and palate than the regular offering, but other than that it was hard to tell. You won’t get anyone to drop $48 on a bottle of pinot if the tasting sample is unacceptable…

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Flight 4 - Spring Vale (East Coast) (5 Notes)

Always an ambitiously-priced winery, reflecting the small volumes, and nothing’s different this year…

  • 2010 Spring Vale Gewürztraminer

    Australia, Tasmania, Freycinet Coast

    {screwcap, A$28} An accurate and florrid nose of pout-pourri and turkish delight. There are tropical flavours on the palate, which is fresh, a touch phenolic, and very much dry. Medium acid and medium bodied-weight combine well and evenly over the palate; this is all right in the short term.

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  • 2009 Spring Vale Chardonnay Reserve

    Australia, Tasmania, Freycinet Coast

    {screwcap {A$40} A mostly citric nose with an exotic apricot touch to the spicy, faintly oaky, mineral-driven aromas. The palate is quite subtle. Medium-bodied with soft white stone fruits, subtle oak, but only manages a rather short finish. Decent wine but too costly. The Reserve sees oak, if you were wondering.

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  • 2010 Spring Vale Pinot Noir Melrose

    Australia, Tasmania, Freycinet Coast

    {screwcap, A$22} Soft red-berry fruit nose. Yeah, pinot I guess. The palate is gently dusty – not actually tannic, just a little under-fruited – with a tang of spice and red berries that all fades pretty quickly. Even at this price you could do better.

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  • 2008 Spring Vale Pinot Noir

    Australia, Tasmania, Freycinet Coast

    {screwcap, A$40} Thoroughly dumb nose. That was unexpected. This is a slightly leafy palate, not unripe, with soft dusty tannins (noticeable oak) and medium acid. Can’t find a lot of flavour – it’s all texture, this wine, but still only comes up to a short-medium length finish. Too expensive to gamble on this.

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  • 2008 Spring Vale Gewürztraminer Late Harvest

    Australia, Tasmania, Freycinet Coast

    {375ml, screwcap, 9.2%, A$18} Lifted aromas of turkish delight; resembles the regular pick wine with the volume turned up. The palate initially seems medium-sweetish, but there’s a dustiness to the musk & pot-pourri flavours here. The sweetness fades, and eventually the fairly even palate finishes quite dry. It’s still really a light-medium weight wine, which helps, and the acid is pitched about right. No great depth or dimension to the flavours, but it’s a fair offering overall.

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Flight 5 - Heemskerk (2 Notes)

Just saw these by chance on the way out, but the name, once moribund, seems to be taking a new lease of life under Fosters' ownership, of all people.

  • 2008 Heemskerk Pinot Noir Tamar Valley

    Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley

    {screwcap, 13.5%, A$45} Flashily packaged, and made by recent award winner Anna Pooley, this presents a very closed, subdued nose of dark fruits and sour cherry; all very classical. The palate continues with cherries and violets, fine-grained dusty tannins, and subtle oak. It's only really light-medium bodied, but has an even if rather low-key palate, and resolves to a dry medium length finish. More austere and perhaps polished than its Derwent Valley sibling, but I struggle a bit to see the value here. Track record is sporadic, so perhaps its a bit aspirational. Objectively fine enough; perhaps the real interst is in buying both the wines and comparing their evolution.

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  • 2008 Heemskerk Pinot Noir Southern Tasmania

    Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania

    {screwcap, 14.1%, A$45} Made from Derwent Valley fruit by Anna Pooley, alongside a Tamar-sourced pinot, against which this is an interesting comparison. This nose is rather more lifted and open that the Tamar wine, with more overt cherries and spices. The same dash of subtle oak, similar fine powdery tannins, and the palate remains evenly balanced, although the wine lacks a little charm at this age. This wine is a little nearer to medium weight than its sibling, but just seems a little coarser. The differences are subtle, and not so noticeable if the wines aren't side by side. I wanted to like them both more than I did, but then they're very young, probably aimed at the longer haul, and there're few recent back vintages to provide clues. Tricky to call; but the price is steep irrespective.

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