Taste of Tasmania 09/10
Hobart
Tasted Monday, December 28, 2009 by graemeg with 684 views
Introduction
A quick whip around the stands at the Taste of Tasmania. Chromy was the standout, Lubiana surprisingly disappointing. See other notes on Jan 4, 2010 for red wines of Domaine A (who weren't at the Taste)
2008 Bay of Fires Riesling
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 11.5%} Nose of limes & wet rocks. Sweetly-fruited on the palate, chalk, musk & lime flavours; dry, with medium acidity, body & length of finish. Suspect this has a shortish drinking window, but is very pleasant none-the-less.
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2008 Bay of Fires Chardonnay
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 13.3%} Stones, nine nuts and discreet oak aromas precede a youthful, fresh palate, with stone fruit flavours, a decent mid-palate weight and a generally medium-bodied aspect. Good cooler-climate chardonnay.
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2008 Bay of Fires Pinot Noir
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$30} Cherry & tart strawberry, stalky & smoky. Smells very young. Palate is pure, clean pinot fruit, with medium not-quite-hard acid, discreet oak, soft dusty tannins, light-medium body and a medium length finish. All rather youthfully tight at this age, and certainly doesn't leap out of the glass to meet you, but has some depth of flavour and finish. Give it another two years.
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2008 Stefano Lubiana Riesling
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$30} Rather closed nose of slatey minerals. No fruit bomb. The dry, high acid palate has tight lime and chalk flavours, is quite powerful - to the point of being medium-bodied - and has a powerfully linear long finish. The best of Lubiana's wines on this occasion.
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2009 Stefano Lubiana Sauvignon Blanc
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, A$30} Restrained nose of grassy and shellfish aromas - no asparagus here. The palate adds lychees and a touch of gooseberry; it's mercifully dry, with a load of acid, and near medium-bodied weight. A vivid and arresting sauvignon, which is now rather expensive unless you're a fan of the grape, in which case it has enough individuality to justify itself.
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2008 Stefano Lubiana Riesling Alfresco
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{screwcap} Overly sweet-smelling nose of creaming soda. Not much sign of the grape's identity, that's for sure. Off-dry, with spritz, vaguely sweet but bland flavours, and no body or length to speak of. Disappointing.
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2008 Stefano Lubiana Pinot Noir Primavera
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{screwcap, 14%, A$30} Youthful, sweetly-lifted aromas of appealing warm & jammy strawberry fruit. Has a guileless appeal. Rather more tart & chewy on the palate, with gritty tannins despite the lack of oak, light-body and a rather fast-fading and dilute finish. Not great.
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2007 Stefano Lubiana Pinot Noir Estate
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{screwcap, 13.5%, A$45} A classy nose here, with touches of cured meats peeking through dark cherry fruits. A medium-acid, softly-dusty-tannined and rather tight pinot which follows its meaty, dark berry fruits with a nicely balanced finish, but which finishes disappointingly short. Pleasant enough wine but a loser in the value for money stakes.
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2007 Stefano Lubiana Merlot
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{cork, 14%, A$30} Fleshy raspberries and plump plum aromas - all very ripe and succulent. Just on the lighter side of 'medium' as far as acid, tannin, weight go; the palate avoids any greenness; is youthfullly soft, with subtle oak and decent mid-palate presence. Quite respectable - the pick of the reds, and always Lubiana's most under-rated wine.
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2008 Frogmore Creek Riesling FGR
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 9.5%, A$22-ish} A youthfully soft nose of, what, white flowers, daffodils? These fashionable off-dry wines rarely show off riesling to much advantage, and whatever the winemakers say, are quite unlike pradikat rieslings from Germany, being far more dilute (and generally acid-deficient) in comparison. This has enough acid to keep it in some sort of balance (the 'F' is Forty, as in grams of Residual Sugar) but none-the-less fades from the front palate - the only place it makes an impact - rather quickly. I can't find much in the way of actual flavours, however.
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2006 Frogmore Creek Chardonnay
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 14%} A slightly-developing but still vivid and rich nose of nutty oak, peaches and cream. Dry, with lowish acid, it manages mildly stony fruit flavours on the palate, a light-medium body, but a rather short finish. Drink up.
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2006 Hood Wines Riesling Wellington
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{screwcap, 13%} Powerful, youthful nose of citric and lime aromas. If you were told it was Australian, you'd say Clare, not Tasmania. Dry, long and linear, searingly acidic, medium-bodied, with citric fruits still subdued by the structure. Wait. And then it should be very good.
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2007 Frogmore Creek Pinot Noir
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{screwcap, 13.5%} Mainstream, and to be honest, rather forgettable nose of lifted sweet strawberries and cream. Mostly to the lighter end of the pinot spectrum, although its best feature is the balance, with everything nicely proportioned. Nothing more to say, really.
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2007 Frogmore Creek Cabernet Sauvignon
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 13.5%} A brave attempt in Tasmania's coolish climate. A nose of currenty, brambly cabernet fruits, of rather low intensity, but not suggesting a ripening problem. The palate's biggest problem is the generally dilute nature of the flavours, which sit on the tip of the palate and fade quickly. This is despite a quite tannic palate, and medium-bodied weight. Close, but no cigar...
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2007 Bream Creek Riesling
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 11.9%, A$23} This 'dry' offering (6.8g/l RS) has a flowery, semi-Kabinett-like nose, and follows up with a generally low-keyed lychee-flavoured palate. I remember previous vintages as better than this.
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2008 Bream Creek Schönburger
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{screwcap, 13$, A$23} This is such a bizarre wine. The nose wins an Oscar for 'Best Gewurz Impersonation'. All rosewater, pot-pourri; your basic Wine-Tasting 101 blind variety identifier. and it smells like it's going to be really sweet. Then the palate arrives; musky flavours, Turkish delight, some mid-palate weight, and way drier (ie. 'Dry') than you'd expect. Only really light-medium bodied, it also manages a decent length of finish, just to complete the list of surprises. Easily Bream Creek's best white, in my opinion.
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2007 Bream Creek Chardonnay
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 12.7%, A$25} Youthful nose of nuts and figs, with some discreet supporting oak. Palate follows - adds some smoky flavours, a toasty note - it's not in the least tropical. Medium+ bodied, with a decent length finish, but reamins a bit one-dimensional overall. But like all Australia chardonnay, better than it was 10 years ago.
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2008 Bream Creek Riesling VGR
Australia, Tasmania
{screwcap, 11.8%} 'Variable Grams Residual', in case you were wondering. And I think winemaker Fred Peacock told me how many, but I didn't note it down - between 40 & 60g is a safe bet. It's a bit bland; sweet white flowers on the nose, some perfume; the palate has a little sweet lime as the chief fruit component. The light body is fine, and even the acid's in balance, but there's just nothing much of real interest here. A bit insipid overall.
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2008 Bream Creek Pinot Noir
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{screwcap, 13.5%, $32} Middle-of-the-road new-world pinot aromas, rather lightweight. That applies to the whole wine, in fact; soft acid, low oak, a smidgin of powdery tannins, light-body. The fruits emerge as nicely spicy on the palate; htey tread lightly and with a fresh sourness. In some ways its a rather pure wine; reasonable value (although their Reserve bottling is always better value) if your expectations aren't too high.
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2006 Bream Creek Cabernet Merlot
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{Diam, 14%, A$27} A youthful, cool-climate nose of brambly fruits which avoid greenness, but don't smell quite fully ripe either. The palate is austere in a way; soft dusty tannins balance the medium-body of the wine, oak is subtle, there's plenty of acid; but the cool brackish fruits sit a bit too much on the front palate for this to be accorded a wine of distinction - and the finish is a bit short too. OK, but not special.
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2006 Bream Creek Schönburger Late Harvest
Australia, Tasmania, Southern Tasmania
{375ml, screwcap, 10%, A$24} Rather gewurz-like (as is its dry sibling) on the nose, with rich pot-pourri aromas. But the palate finishes rather dry, despite the initially sweetish fruit - worse is the light-body and generally short finish. Not a patch on the wonderful 2004 vintage.
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2009 Josef Chromy Riesling
Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley
{screwcap,12.5%, A$25} Subdued yet powerful, youthful nose of citric fruits. A dry palate follows, rather Clare Valley-like in its intensity and flavours, but with a long even palate, despite a relatively light-bodied feel on the palate. Interesting wine whose best years are well ahead of it.
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2007 Josef Chromy Chardonnay
Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley
{screwcap, A$30} A flinty, matchstick-smelling,rather stony-fruited nose. The palate has plenty to offer; French oak, grilled nuts, figs, the full catastrophe. Rather youthful, and would doubtless benefit from more age, although a rather front-palate bias to the mouthfeel tells me it's never going to be great...
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2008 Josef Chromy Riesling SGR (Sixty Grams Residual)
Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley
{screwcap, 8%, A$25} The only truly worthwhile off-dry riesling of the day. A rather low-key, Kabinett-like nose. Gentle citric flavours permeate the wine, the acid supports it beautifully, it's light-bodied, faintly sweet, but wonderfully balanced. Winemaker Jeremy Dineen told me he was aiming for 7.5% alcohol - measured the readings 4 times in a day and still got it wrong. A fine wine though, at the end of it all. I have no idea about aging it.
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2008 Josef Chromy Pinot Noir
Australia, Tasmania, Northern Tasmania
{screwcap, 14%, A$30} Classic pinot cherry aromas, but laced with meaty delicatessen notes. The palate follows this up with gentle oak, medium bodied weight, and lovely balance of components along the tongue. Medium length finish, but it all hangs together, adding up to greater than the sum of its parts. For this quality, very well priced.
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2005 Josef Chromy Pinot Noir Zdar
Australia, Tasmania, Tamar Valley
{screwcap, 13.9%, A$50} Maturing nose of cured meats laced with liquid crimson velvet. The palate is very seductive, all wet leaves, forest floor, with plenty of animal/meaty flavours. It's softly seductive, with fine tannins, a generally medium-bodied feel - the actual underlying flavour & structure profile is not that different to the regular pinot bottling (allowing for the extra aging), but what this wine has is length, man. More persistence than a nagging in-law. Extremely attractive wine, and well-priced in context.
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2008 Josef Chromy Riesling Botrytis
Australia, Tasmania, Northern Tasmania
{screwcap, 9.3%, A$25} Lovely honey & maramalade aromas, all with a riesling accent. Components all in balance - it's not the captivating wine that the 2007 was, but it's pretty good nonetheless. Not heavy, not too much botrytis, not too much sugar, lots of character and length. Good.
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