Wineries Tamar & Vic Jan 25
Tamar, Glenrowan
Tasted Monday, January 13, 2025 - Monday, January 20, 2025 by graemeg with 140 views
Introduction
A few random wineries picked up on travels around the Pipers Brook region of Tasmania, plus one Victorian on the way home. There are at least 36 wineries open for tastings in Pipers Brooks if you followed a ~170km loop drive. Everyone’s complaining about lack of visitor traffic – interest rates & the general economic climate seem to have people cutting back on essentials like wine in favour of food, clothing, housing etc.
Flight 1 - House of Arras (5 Notes)
First visit in many years, and also since Accolade in 2023 sold the business to Handpicked Wines after all sorts of fizzmakers gave it the once-over (though what multi-million-bottle Champagne houses would want with a 20,000-case operation in northern Tasmania is beyond me). $25 fee in a booking-required, sit-down tasting, not refundable. Comes with an informative masterclass presentation on history, vineyards, winemaking, etc. Includes a couple of Tas-based Handpicked wines following three Arras wines. Decent glasses, generous pours. Wines are pricy, but very good. Value marginal, in that at the higher level, they’re Champagne-quality, but also at Champagne prices…
Flight 2 - Sinapius (7 Notes)
First visit since 2017. New tasting room since then. Non-refundable fee (six wines for $15), although it was waived in my case (taking notes & spitting, perhaps?) Excellent wines at decent value. No fining or filtering across the range, so a hint of cloudiness to everything in the glass. No cause for alarm – they know what they’re doing.
Flight 3 - Josef Chromy (7 Notes)
$20 non-refundable for a curated four-bottle tasting, although they were happy to amend the selection when I asked (swapping out a SB for a Riesling). Then, I guess because I was taking notes and spitting, they kindly brought me some extra premium wines (the two exxy chardies and the premium fizz) not in the default options. Generous pours, decent glasses. Pretty good value wines overall.
Flight 4 - Moores Hill (6 Notes)
Opportunistic visit ninety minutes before closing time (on the way back to the Devonport ferry) with newish co-owner & winemaker James Oliver. This 4000-case business changed hands in 2022, bought by a couple of Burgundy nuts. Six-wine tasting for $15 refundable on a two-bottle buy. Fine glasses. Fair value, with potential here. I’m not sure about the future for sparkling – they require such an investment of time and capital to make I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see no more of it for some time.
Flight 5 - Baileys of Glenrowan (11 Notes)
Late afternoon tasting with longtime winemaker Paul Dahlenburg, who’s manning the tasting room on this quiet and hot day. Most of the range on tasting (& newly opened too), no fee apparent. Good glasses again (seems common these days, finally!). Really good value for money here, and signing up to the club gets you 10% off these prices. Another business that has changed hands a few years ago, this one from Treasury back into family ownership (Casella), which will only do it good.
NV House of Arras Brut Elite Rose no 1801
Australia, Tasmania
(1/13/2025)
{cork, A$68} Faint onion-skin tint. Pungent strawberry nose. Dusty fruit palate; doesn’t taste especially red-tinged. Verging on bone-dry at 2.4g/l of sugar. Quite light-bodied, with medium acid and quite small fine bubbles. Medium length finish. It’s nice enough, but the value is marginal I must say. 64% pinot noir, 8% meunier, the rest chardonnay. Derwent, Coal River and Tamar fruit, based largely on the 2018 vintage (about 70%)
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2016 House of Arras Grand Vintage
Australia, Tasmania
(1/13/2025)
{cork, A$125} 65/35 chardonnay /pinot. Smoke and dust and fleshy yellow fruit. A little bread, but there’s not an obviously yeasty character, despite all the years on lees. Medium weight, with small, creamily delicate bubbles. Quite youthful palate, with juicy, fleshy rockmelon and mango-tinged flavours. Still bone-dry, with just 2g/l of sugar. Medium/long finish. Some cellaring time will help this now I reckon – it’s still tasting very young. Derwent, East Coast, Coal River fruit.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2016 House of Arras Blanc de Blancs
Australia, Tasmania
(1/13/2025)
{cork, A$136} Floral nose – very restrained. As is the palate, with only gentle autolysis character, a touch of nougat, soft biscuit flavours. Even medium-bodied palate, with small creamy bubbles and a medium-long finish with 3g/l dosage. Gentle and persistent, and wants more time. As with the 2016 Grand, a mix of East Coast, Derwent and Coal River fruit in that order.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
2021 Handpicked Pinot Noir Collection Tasmania
Australia, Tasmania
(1/13/2025)
{screwcap, 13.2%, A$60} All Tamar fruit this vintage. Floral, perfumed nose of rose-petals and cherries. Palate has more obvious oak than the nose, with low/medium powdery tannins, the same flavours as the aromas, with the additional of the slightly dirty forest-floor and spicy characters. Medium/high acidity adds lively freshness, it’s light/medium in weight, with an even palate and a dry medium-length finish. I preferred this to the more expensive single vineyard wine immediately following.
Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
2022 Handpicked Pinot Noir Auburn Road Vineyard Tasmania
Australia, Tasmania
(1/13/2025)
{screwcap, 13.2% A$90} Nose of floral, rose and musk aromas. The palate additionally sees some cherry flavours, with a fine oak character. Low/medium dusty tannins, medium acidity. Almost medium weight, but very subtle on the palate generally. Medium length finish. Wants some time. The 50% price premium over the ‘Collection’ bottling might be rarity-related, because I don’t see additional quality here.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No