Tasmania – a masterclass with Michael Hill-Smith MW
Michael Hill-Smith MW is the co-founder of Shaw and Smith in Adelaide Hills, and of Tolpuddle Vineyard in Tasmania. He put together a masterclass to show what Tas is doing best, namely sparkling, riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir.
Advantage Tasmania
With increasing demand for cool climate wines and wines that are fresh and refreshing, Tasmania is truly on song.
Tasmanian sparkling wine
It’s been estimated that some 40% of the total Tassie harvest tonnage goes into making sparkling wine. That’s some three-quarters of the chardonnay grown and one third of the pinot noir grown on the island state. It’s all about the cool climate.
Tassie pinot noir
With 42% of total Tasmanian vineyard plantings, pinot noir is the island state’s lead variety. Still red pinot noir wine is getting to be a force to be reckoned with, with even latent sub-regional undertones becoming apparent.
Tasmanian regions – the south
Tasmania’s capital city Hobart lays claim to be the second driest state capital in Australia, after Adelaide. There are fewer frosts in the south, and as is to be expected in a cool climate, especially one where there is nothing between the south of the island and the Antarctic, proximity to sea level is important for vineyards to capture as much warmth as possible.
Tasmanian regions – east coast
Tasmania’s east coast is the driest and one of the warmest parts of the state. It’s also home to the biggest single vineyard on the island.
Tasmanian regions – the north
Tasmania is a relatively small island, some 250km north to south. The cool, moderate, maritime, climate location of the whole state means that small local variations in weather, soils and topography result in differing outcomes for wine styles.
Introducing Tasmania
The island state of Tasmania has just 1,400 hectares of vineyard producing some 0.5% of Australia’s total crush. But its repute as the country’s leading producer of cool climate, high quality still and sparkling wines far exceeds its volumetric contribution.
Arras – the house that Ed built
House of Arras represents the pinnacle of Accolade Wines’ sparkling wine programme, a totally Tasmanian bubbly brand created and nurtured by Aussie sparkling wine maestro, Ed Carr, the group sparkling winemaker for Accolade Wines.
What does it take to make pinot noir?
First stop on a tour of Tasmania was a pinot noir component tasting of Frogmore Creek’s Evermore pinot noir, with plenty of unexpected micro-batches taking part.