At least once a year I go on a mini-quest to find those Tasmanian sparkling wines that critics have been predicting will rival Champagne. This year I found one, but they seem few and far between.
2004 House of Arras Grand Vintage- Australia, Tasmania (11/21/2014)
Pale gold. Bubbles very fine, numerous and persistent. Nose and palate loaded with yeast/toast, citrus/tart apples, honey and vanilla, and floral notes. Moderate alcohol (label=12.5%), medium acidity, and mid-level brut sweetness. Rich, creamy, long and complex. The best of the three Tasmanian méthode traditionnelle tasted this week. (92 pts.)
NV Jansz Wine Company Tasmania Premium Cuvee- Australia, Tasmania, Pipers River (11/18/2014)
Straw colour. Bubbles are fine, numerous and long-lasting. Clean, but not giving much on the nose. Intense citrus flavours, a little floral character, but not much else for palate. Lowish alcohol, moderate acidity, medium-high brut sweetness with odd persistence. Insubstantial in body, short and simple. (85 pts.)
2004 House of Arras Blanc de Blancs- Australia, Tasmania (11/17/2014)
Pale gold. Moderately numerous, fine, rapidly-rising bubbles; not persistent. Strong toasty yeast, tart apple and citrus notes. Medium brut-level sweetness. Moderate alcohol (12.5%). Nice body and palate weight. Clean and fairly simple. Perfectly pleasant but not especially interesting. Some hours later, developed some additional aromas and flavours (vanilla, floral), and came across with greater complexity and length. (89 pts.)
Rivalling Champagne is always going to be a tall order for any sparkling wine .
I buy and drink a lot of sparkling wine from places other than Champagne. The best thing about the best among them, I feel, is precisely that they are, and always have been, very self-sufficient and self-styled products of their local cultures with no need to rival anyone or anything (f.i. the great wealth of local sparkling wine traditions all over Italy: literally from up along the Slovene border and then all the way down to Agrigento).
I like many of the Italians sparklers for cheerful drinking, Brachetto d’Acqui being my top choice. But I find myself favoring Franciacorta and Talento, the Champagne mimics, for serious imbibing.
Loren, I spend time in Melbourne once or twice a year, usually en route to or from NZ. Next year I will take a side trip to Tasmania and check them out properly.
A while back I had watched Tyson Stelzer’s documentary* on some of the wines of Tasmania, where Jansz (and their female winemaker) was profiled lightly. It seemed like an interesting cool climate kind of story, but it would be unlikely the wines would make sense to sell in my region, given how near we are to solid local bubbly made by Roederer, Scharffenberger, Schramsberg etc. So it was a surprise to find the NV Jansz Premium Rose [Tasmania] at my local store, which we had with fish and chips tonight. It’s 12% abv, and is a very pale salmon, and if someone had decided to not call it a rose, that would have been ok too: one has to really squint to see the pink hue. The fine bead is exceptional, none of those clunky bubbles that some sparklers proffer up. I’m not sure what all the science behind all that is, but it looks great visually. One the palate, its back label describes it as ‘creamy’, which I suppose is their way of saying lower acid. That descriptor is accurate, but this NV is likable, and if anything, I don’t like shrill sparklers anyways. So I doubt WB will be tripping over this wine, but if one finds a well stored bottle, it’s solid. I’d give it a B+.
the documentary used to be free on Amazon Prime, but seems to have graduated to their paid layer. the show has the vibe of a film class project, circa 2010, and I would not pay to watch it. Watch People of the Vines | Prime Video
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