3 Tasmanian Wineries
Tasmania
Tasted Friday, January 14, 2022 - Sunday, January 23, 2022 by graemeg with 138 views
Introduction
Just a few wineries on this trip (after three years away) touching on Coal Valley and Piper’s River. Amongst my missed ‘regulars’ Domaine A seems to be open just on weekends, at least in this COVID-era. Simha in Hobart apparently run only a costly tasting-plate ‘experience’ at $60 up front, so I chose not to go on the quest there. Nocton were closed too. The big commercial operators are still trading though, despite limited numbers in cellar doors. But the prices generally at these wineries – Bay of Fires, Clover Hill, Pipers Brook, Tamar Ridge, Devils Creek, Frogmore – are at the very top end and undercut by almost any retail store in the country which carries the wines.
Flight 1 - Pooley Wines (11 Notes)
Coal Valley-based with the cellar door just outside Richmond. Big fine-rimmed stemmed glasses, miserly-sized pours. Refundable tasting fee for a couple of different flights ($10 for basic, $15 for single vineyards). But they also poured me for free some not-for-tasting specials they had open once my note-taking identified me as a wine-tragic. 15% off list price for members, which requires 3 dozen wines a year – too big an ask for me from a single winery sadly. Quite big range of high quality – and highly-priced – wines here, not all of which is available for tasting. Sits right in the top echelon of Tassie wines in my view.
Flight 2 - Craigow (8 Notes)
Coal Valley. Limited opening hours here normally. Eight long years since the last visit. Pricing nicely under control. Large cut-rim tasting glasses, generous pours, no tasting fee apparent. Son of the proprietor behind the counter in the intimate tasting room on this occasion. Very friendly and personable visit. Wines generally good value with the exception of the sparkling merlot, where I struggle to match the winery’s enthusiasm. They don’t make every wine every year – it depends very much on what turns up best in the vintage. Most of the grapes are sold elsewhere, so everything is a kind of ‘reserve’ bottling.
Flight 3 - Delamere Vineyards (7 Notes)
Pipers River. Burgundy focus + sparklings. Open Fri-Mon at the moment. You have to buy a non-refundable ‘tasting experience’ for $15/$25+ depending on the wines. Taking pity on the note-taker, they charged me the cheapest ‘experience’ price, while offering some other wines they had open, and I think they’d have let me try everything for that cheapest price if I’d pushed (and I did buy a six-pack in the end). Decent-sized pours into fine-cut, stemless bowl-style glasses. Their big thing is sparkling, with about six bottlings; there’s no 2020 pinot since the COVID-driven picker shortage and lousy weather forecast made them take all the fruit early and put it into the sparklings. Wine Club price is 20% off those shown below, but you’re up for two dozen wines a year for that. They poured me two Museum Estate pinots no longer for sale, which was nice; these normally sell for $70-90 v the $55 for the current vintage release.
2021 Pooley Pinot Grigio
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 13%, A$36} Blossom and pear with a hint of apricot. There’s 4g/l of RS here, which adds just some texture, not sweetness. That’s pure fruit, but there’s a sour dryness to the finish, helped by a furry grape-skin texture. Lively palate despite only light/medium body. No oak apparent.
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2021 Pooley Riesling
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 12.8%, A$42} 3g/l of RS, 5 months in old French oak. Polished nose of mild citrus, lychee, lime. Medium/high acidity, but gentle and caressing and entirely without the sense of being added from a silver-foil packet! Not much more than light-bodied, but with a piercing, laser-like focus. Dry, medium/long finish, not at all simple or hollow. Finely drinkable now but should age nicely over a decade.
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2021 Pooley Chardonnay
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 13.6%, A$50} From non-estate fruit. 30% malo. Nine months in oak, 30% new. Nose of light oak and nuts. Quite seductive. Light/medium weight, medium acidity. Relies more on structure than flavour for its medium length finish. Generic oaked chardonnay flavours I’d say; attractive but not distinctive. A touch hollow and simple. Something of a quaffer, but too expensive for that; better to stump up the extra $15 and buy the single vineyard wines.
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2021 Pooley Gewürztraminer
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 13.8%, A$36} The 3.5g/l of sugar balances this out nicely. It has the classic rosewater and estery nose of the variety, the same vivid flavours on the palate, though not nearly as sweet as you might expect. Medium weight, but with a phenolic, grape-skin sort of texture that curbs the urge to glugg down more of it. Even palate, medium length finish. No rush to drink this either.
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2020 Pooley Chardonnay Cooinda Vale
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 13.2$, A$65} The rocky soil of this vineyard around and beyond Richmond produces quite overt fruit on the nose; grapefruit, melon, peach. The palate is similar, restrained and refined, perhaps just sitting towards the tip of the tongue. More peach and nut flavours, with some mild but nicely-judged French oak. Medium high acid, not too much malo character. Medium length finish quite a step up from the entry-level wine, but still marginal value.
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2020 Pooley Chardonnay Butcher's Hill
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 13.3$, A$65} Same price as the Coolinda Vale wine, and made the same way, with 30% malo, 9 months in French oak, 30% new. This is much more interesting and racy though, with flint and stone and toast. Some grapefruit flavour too, but also a bit more earth. Even with that it’s still more pointed and exciting. Medium/high acid, medium weight and with a medium long finish. Very classy.
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2020 Pooley Pinot Noir Cooinda Vale
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 13.2%, A$70} It wasn’t that many vintages ago this was selling for $30-something. Double the price in less than a decade. But the wine has improved. This has a floral, cherry and spice nose, with a touch of earth. Tidy palate, driven by high acidity, light red fruit characters, earthiness, and low/medium chalky tannins. Even palate, light/medium weight, medium length finish. Will be much better in five years but seems to have the goods.
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2020 Pooley Pinot Noir Cooinda Vale Oronsay
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, A$120} Not a million miles from the regular Cooinda bottling, but with extra layers of spice, earth, cinnamon, cedary oak. Medium dusty tannins, subtle oak, medium acidity. Polished and refined. There’s fruit present, but it’s driven more by structure. A proper wine of the soil. Pricey but may turn out to be worth it.
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2020 Pooley Pinot Noir Butcher's Hill Oronsay
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 12.5%, A$120} Earth, tobacco, spice, oak. Everything is here. Beautifully balanced and even palate with medium acid, low/medium powdery tannins, seasoning oak, medium weight. Medium/long finish. Such balance and depth but without weightiness. Really good.
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2020 Pooley Syrah JRD
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{screwcap, 12.5%, A$120} Fruit from the Glaezer-Dixon clan here in Tassie. Lots of white pepper. Mild blackberry flavour and despite the pepper and alcohol (you don’t see many Oz shiraz at 12.5% these days) not green or minty. Subtle oak, medium powdery tannins, medium/high acidity. Elegant, non-jammy style in a medium weight presentation. Medium/long finish. Good for medium term aging I think.
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2021 Pooley Riesling Butcher's Hill Late Harvest
Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
(1/14/2022)
{375ml, screwcap, 8.5%, $39} ‘Cane cut’ per the label. Spicy, almost gewurz-like, although otherwise fairly closed. Translucent palate, with a near-watery texture. Medium sweet (163g/l of RS) with a slightly dusty character. Light-bodied, with soft, honey-tinged flavours. Medium length finish. A bit underwhelming at this age (poor value it seems) but maybe time will tell? Not convinced now though.
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