Tasmania, part 2

The next stop was Derwent Estate. This was a strange experience. The cellar door was open, but you could not taste any wine. "it is not worth it at this time of year. We only sell wine". I always thought the purpose of tasting was to increase sales. Anyway..

 Domaine A was interesting, as I expected. This winery gets good marks to start with for releasing wines later when they are ready to drink. Owned by a Swiss winemaker, the wines have quite a European feel. I tried the 2007 Domaine A Pinot Noir. It had complex berry flavours with savoury undertones, but the wine was a bit lean for my liking (91 points). The 2006 Stoney Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon was also quite lean and simply had not enough fruit concentration. The flagship wine, the 2005 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon, was a different story. It had good intensity of blackberry fruit and showed an elegant texture. This is a wine built for the long haul with at least another 10-15 years of life in it - quite a unique wine in Tasmania (93 points). The Domaine A wines are expensive, but the Cabernet Sauvignon is certainly worth it.

 (to be continued...