Tassie bubbles are all the rage these days - as they should be! Especially when you can get them at this price. Made from a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, it punches above it's weight with some complex smells of green apples, yellow citrus, baked bread and a touch of savouriness on the nose. The palate is lighter-bodied, frisky and zippy, with juicy citrus flavours, a fine line of bubbles, licks of creaminess, and a bright, fresh, dry finish. Excellent for kicking off your next dinner party.
The addition of Pinot Meunier to this beautiful bottle of bubbles ensures bright fruit aromas and a fleshy mid-palate – in other words, sublime enjoyment! This is a prime example of why winemakers believe Tasmania’s climate to be the closest in Australia to Champagne.
From the Winery
Ninth Island, although often shrouded by ocean mists, is visible from our vineyards in northern Tasmania. The island name is used for our range of fresh, early drinking wines that capture the distinctive cool-climate flavours of Tasmania. The climate is perfectly suited to the production of premium sparkling wine. WinemakingObjective: In the creation of this non-vintage sparkling wine, we aim for a consistent, easy drinking style. The use of pinot meunier plays an important part in the immediate enjoyment and accessibility of the style. Acting as a flavour 'accelerator', pinot meunier gives bright fruit notes on the nose and also acts to flesh out the middle palate.
The grapes were grown on the deep Ferrosol (volcanic) soils of our Pipers River district vineyards. This particular soil type has an excellent water holding capacity, offering a steady supply of moisture and nourishment to the vines throughout the growing season. The chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes for this wine were sourced from specific sparkling vineyard sites in the Pipers River region.
All grapes are grown on narrow spaced vineyards (1.5- 2.2 m row spacing). The vines are vertically shoot positioned (VSP) and hand pruned during winter and hedged during summer to allow adequate fruit exposure. Harvest: The fruit, hand harvested from late March to early April, is carefully transported to the winery and is pressed within 2 hours due to the vineyards' close proximity to the winery.
State of the art computer controlled Bucher airbag presses are used with a modified sparkling pressing cycle to yield approximately 550 litres per tonne of free run juice from the whole bunch pressed grapes. The juice is then batch fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged in tank on primary yeast lees for 6 to 8 months before assemblage. The wine is then tiraged and spends 24 months on lees in bottle before disgorgement, at which time the wine spends a further four months on cork before release.
Analysis
Titratable acidity: 7 g/L pH: 3.18
Don't Pay: $32.00
WBW Rating: 92/100
Closure: Cork
Region: Tamar Valley, TAS
Winemaker: René Bezemer
Drink now until: 2020
Alc/Vol: 12.5 %
