With overnight temperatures nudging single digit figures, Spring Vale managing director Tim Lyne admits much of the romance associated with sparkling wine production can be hard to sustain when you’re out of doors in the wee small hours and there’s an empty press awaiting its first Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.
That said, the managing director of the small Tasmanian wine company wouldn’t have it any other way.
“When you consider all the time, money and effort you have to invest in making premium sparkling wine, there’s no point in taking short cuts,” he says.
With just a few small parcels of fruit yet to be picked before winemaker Barry Kooij turns to table wine production, Lyne is hoping for a brief pause in winery activity during the coming week.
He’s going to need it. Lyne does double duty as MD of The Splendid Gin. Based on home turf at Spring Vale Road, it’s a thriving east coast distillery Lyne and his wife Kellie established in 2016 with local couple Michael Travalia and Ange Boxall.
All four principals are now fully engaged in bedding down arrangements for the East Coast Harvest Odyssey (ECHO), to be held in Cranbrook from March 26-28.
The weekend’s festivities pick up where the inaugural adults-only ECHO left off in 2019. Founder and creative producer Ange Boxall says that following the cancellation of last year’s program during due to COVID-19, ECHO in 2021 is a welcome celebration of who we are on our island.
“This past year has not only starved us of artistic and cultural experiences, we’ve been deprived on a sensory level,” she explains.
“Touch, shared tastes, sounds, and scents, they’ve all been affected. ECHO wakes us up and takes us on a journey of exploration to reignite those senses.”
Timed to coincide with vintage in the district, the festival offers a rare opportunity for patrons to foot-stomp wine grapes grown at Spring Vale. The subsequent ‘great eastern ferment’ will result in the creation of a wine to be released at next year’s ECHO.
“In the old Gala Mill, vignerons and distillers will guide us through a showcase of fine Tasmanian wines, gin and whisky tastings,” Boxall adds.
Members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community play key festival roles with their Welcome to Country and bush foods walk.
In collaboration with non-profit organisation Beaker Street, patrons wishing to develop their understanding of marine biodiversity and the growing threat of climate change will be able to engage with renowned ecologists Professor Gretta Pecl and Dr John Keane at the event’s Science Bar.
Of course, no ECHO would be complete without fireside storytelling, immersive food and art experiences and live music. The festival closes with a native bounty feast, cooked on an open fire, underneath the night sky.
Now resident in the district after years of touring, Boxall is one of Australia’s most renowned singer-songwriters. Born and raised in Tasmania, Boxall has written, recorded and performed in some of the music industry’s most hallowed venues in the UK, Europe, and the USA.
When Boxall and her husband Michael Travalia purchased a historic property just outside Cranbrook in 2014, they developed close friendships with the neighbouring Lyne family. Before long, the couples discovered they had a passion for premium gin as well as for premium wine. Behold, Splendid Gin Tasmania.
“As the name suggests, our Spring Vale property has significant spring water resources, and over the years we’ve considered all sorts of ways of exploiting that,” says Tim Lyne.
“Creating a gin company sounded much more interesting than simply bottling spring water. It was a no-brainer, really. Besides, there aren’t many gin companies that claim the provenance of the water itself in addition to its botanicals and distilled spirits.”
Winemaker & distiller Natalie Fryar. Image courtesy Chris Crerar.
Bellebonne and former Jansz sparkling winemaker Natalie Fryar provided the technical expertise and tasting acuity needed to lift the project off the drawing-board.
“Now we hawk booze at every event we do,” Boxall jests in livewire fashion.
Boxall says the tiny hamlet between Swansea and Bicheno provides an ideal setting for ECHO’s curated program of cultural and sensory experiences.
Located on the Great Eastern Drive linking east coast communities, Cranbrook has a population of just 95 residents, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics 2016 Census Data.
“We had only 120 people on site in ECHO’s first year, which is vital to preserving the vibe of the event,” Boxall told Hobart media in late February.
“I don’t want the experience to be too watered down. I want it to be potent and boutique.”
Boutique… and unique.
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Radenti harvest brimming with success
Like many winemakers across Tasmania, those located on the east coast are toasting the success of their 2021 sparkling wine vintage.
“It’s been a really lovely end to the season,” says Freycinet Vineyard’s Claudio Radenti.
“Everything is looking good at this stage. I think it’s shaping up to be a very good vintage for sparkling wine.
“We’re really thankful the weather over the past month has been so settled. If we had seen a continuation of that drizzly wet stuff we saw over summer, things might have been different.
“We’ve had some beautiful sunny days this month and the season has progressed well across all varieties. Our vine canopies look great, so there’s a very good ripening engine among all those leaves. All we need is for the dry conditions to continue.”
Freycinet winemaker Claudio Radenti. Image courtesy Rob Burnett, Tourism Tasmania.
Radenti says the past two vintages provided him with something of a rollercoaster ride as harvest approached on the Bicheno property.
Subjected to drought throughout 2018 and much of 2019, Freycinet Vineyard experienced late summer and autumn rainfall in the run-up to 2020 vintage. That provided both opportunity and challenge in the winery, Radenti says.
“Our crops were down by around 30-40 percent in some varieties,” he recalls.
“The incredibly small berries and small bunches gave us some beautiful fruit for winemaking. But we certainly had to work hard to stay ahead of the disease pressure.
“This has been a cooler season overall. We have some lovely delicacy in our sparkling base wines, which is what you want from a good vintage. There’s some really nice acidity and fruit intensity.”
Well-judged acidity and flavour intensity have been hallmarks of the Freycinet house style since Radenti began his sparkling wine program back in 1993.
So too is his preference for crafting Chardonnay-dominant blends.
“Chardonnay gives elegance and finesse, while Pinot Noir provides body and backbone,” he says.
The discovery of a long-lost bottle of 2000 vintage Radenti provided your columnist with ample proof of the incredible age-ability of these wines. Its cork was removed without issue to reveal a pale green gold sparkling with a steady pin-prick bead, creamy mousse and beautifully sustained flavours of brioche, citrus and mushroom stock. Remarkable.
“We opened a ’99 when our oldest boy turned 21 last year and it just amazed us,” Radenti muses.
“Such wines are always dependent upon the quality of the cork, but it’s wonderful to know you can produce wines like that in Tasmania. I don’t think you can do that anywhere else in the country. I consider 2000 one of the great years. It’s always so special when you come across wines like that in your cellar.”
It sure is.
Freycinet Vineyard, Bicheno. Image supplied.
Hobart’s Mark Smith wrote his first weekly wine column back in 1994. Now more than 1700 features and 25 years later, he continues to chart the successes of Tasmania’s small scale, cool climate wine industry with regular contributions to some of Australia’s leading industry publications.
PICK OF THE CROP
Mark gives you his honest opinions about the best wines available right now from Tasmania’s wine makers.
2019 Devil’s Corner Resolution Pinot Gris $34
This single site wine is sourced from the Brown Family Wine Group’s Hazards Vineyard near Bicheno on Tasmania’s east coast. Carefully crafted from a discrete selection of blocks managed specifically for the production of this wine, this a delicious interpretation of the classic Alsatian white variety. The expected pear notes are joined on the palate by riper and rounder nectarine and melon-like fruit. The finish is off-dry, but well supported by good natural acidity to create a wine that is generous, seamlessly smooth and satisfying. www.devilscorner.com.au
2017 Freycinet Vineyard Chardonnay $38
Winemaker Claudio Radenti has a knack for making elegant, ageworthy Chardonnays that somehow combine power and finesse in the glass. Here, citrus and white peach characters are accompanied by beautifully integrated quality French oak and lingering acidity. The wine was a worthy gold medal winner at this year’s Tasmanian Wine Show. The 2010, from a warmer and drier vintage, earned the trophy for Best Museum Wine at the previous event, underscoring the consistent quality of these classic, barrel-fermented beauties. Friendly pricing is equally noteworthy. www.freycinetvineyard.com.au
2020 Gala Estate Pinot Rosé $32
Located at Cranbrook on Tasmania’s east coast, Gala Estate was established in 2009 as an adjunct to farming activities conducted on the property by the Amos and Greenhill families for almost 200 years. Nowadays, it is a producer of exemplary cool climate wines with one of the best vineyard cellar doors you’ll find anywhere in Tasmania. This Rosé is a delight. Meticulously put together by winemakers at Tasmanian Vintners, it delivers strawberry, watermelon and red berry characters with considerable intensity and vibrancy. Gold medal, 2021 Tasmanian Wine Show. www.galaestate.com.au
2020 Craigie Knowe White Label Pinot Noir $30
Craigie Knowe was planted in the late 1970s by industry wine pioneer, John Austwick. As a lover of Bordeaux reds, he believed his Cranbrook vineyard would be capable of producing statuesque Cabernet blends. It does in warm, dry vintages but Pinot Noir is a much more convincing performer on the tough, rocky site. This simply delicious, early drinker from the Travers family is among the best of the lighter styles being produced on the coast. Carefully oaked, it’s juicy and vibrant, with surprising intensity and length of flavour for its modest pricing. www.craigieknowe.com.au
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