Tasmania, part 1

On a recent trip to Tasmania, I visited a number of wineries in the Southern part, not far from Hobart.

Home Hill is a new winery to me. It has been successful recently in regional shows with its Pinot Noir. The 2010 Pinot Noir has strawberry and cherry flavours. It has an attractive linear structure down the palate and good length (91 points). The 2009 Pinot Noir is similar, but does not have the same length (89 points). The 2010 Home Hill Kelly's Reserve spends twice as long (16 months) in new oak. It is a more closed wine, built on cherry flavours. It has a very dry finish (91 points). I actually preferred the freshness of the regular Pinot Noir.

The surprise at Stefano Lubiana was its 2010 Estate Chardonnay. It is a fresh wine, with complex citrus, melon and peach flavours. The wine had 20% new oak treatment. It has a linear structure and good length (92 points). Its brother, the 2010 Estate Pinot Noir is not of the same calibre. I found the fruit a little thin and therefore the oak too pronounced (90 points). I also tried the 2010 Merlot. This is clearly a cool climate wine, not plummy, with fine tannins, but the fungus flavour on the finish was a bit unpleasant (89 points).

Moorilla had a major revamp since it got 'integrated' into the stunning Museum of Old and Modern Art. Its premium brand is called Muse. It shows quite risque labels (The Pinot Noir shown below).

 
The 2010 Moorilla Muse Pinot Noir is very moreish - a wine for winter. It has a good mouthfeel of black cherry fruit, but the focus is on texture, which is elegant and rich. This is a wine which stands out and wants to be noticed. I liked it a lot (93/+++ points).

The other good wine was the 2010 Pinot Gris. Made in the Elsassian style, it tastes of pear, with a clean, good mouthfeel and again, excellent texture. The wine has good length.

(to be continued...