Last time we tried a Two Bud Spur pinot, it was their 2007, we talked about it's smoothness and lovely smoky finish. Well the 2008 pinot retains the smoothness but tastes more like a laid back cherry liqueur. Even though it is very different from the 07 it is very enjoyable and will appeal to the "fruit, fruit give us more fruit!"pinot crowd. 

During the recent open winery weekend we dropped into Wine Making Tasmania and tried some of the wines from Bishop's vineyard, which is located just outside Hobart in Acton Park. One in particular really stood out. The 2005 Chardonnay. It was nothing short of astonishing! It has everything you want from a 6 year old wine. Rich flavour, smooth texture and a satisfying finish. We don't think there's much of the 05 left but they have an 08 which is also brilliant so either way you won't miss out. 

Since it is so hard to produce a consistently good cabernet in Tasmania, well until global warming really kicks in, we love it when we find another potential candidate. The fine folk at Observatory Hill gave us a bottle of their 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and it's a beauty.

This is one very smooth wine. It's rich but balanced flavour means you experience both the cabernet, minus the sour grassy aftertaste, and the 'mellow' merlot. Definitely one for drinking on it's own ... if you're still allowed to enjoy that sort of thing what with all the hysteria around about alcohol of late ....  (not that we're ranting in the middle of a review or anything - Ed).  

It is fantastic to live in a state that is so good at riesling, we love it. In fact if God was to suddenly appear in the sky and say "all right you lot you're having too much fun and it's taking up all the time you would be spending being religious and stuff... you can only have one variety of wine". We would choose riesling. 

We are really spoiled for choice here in Tassie and recently we got to try the 2008 Elmslie Estate River View Reserve which just confirmed our riesling bias. This wine looks like a cyclist's sample (er one that tested negative of course - Ed) with it's rich golden colour and smells like a warm room that's been sprayed with a mango and pineapple air freshener. Nice in other words.

It has a slightly astringent taste that reminds you of a grapefruit based fruit salad. Try this when you are sleepy but need to operate heavy machinery and you'll be up and about in no time. The finish allows the subtle acid to play out just long enough. All in all not a bad drop. 

Actually while we're banging on about Elmslie we tried their 2008 Chardonnay. It is good, very good. You don't have to take our word for it, this wine has won more than it's fair share of medals and it's plain to see why.

Open the bottle and you are reminded of hot toast. This smell intensifies as the wine warms so be warned. The wine is a lovely balance between lemon and oak and has a slightly smoky caramel highlight. Very interesting and kind of addictive.

The finish does what you want in a friend. It manages to get the right balance between wanting to 'hang out' without getting all needy or clingy. 

Were we the only ones that didn't know Morningside Vineyard made a chardonnay? Maybe we were distracted by their pinot and cabernets. Having finally discovered it we made up for lost time by dedicating a couple of hours to "getting to know you". 

This 2009 chardonnay reminded us of thick hot buttered fruit toast. The kind you pay through the nose for at those uber cool cafes. Sure you're being ripped off but my goodness they taste wonderful. 

The spice continues in the taste. This wine is like a good old fashioned spicy apple pie. It also has an amazing velvety mouthfeel and leaves you warm like a proper log fire. 

We really liked the 08 Milton pinot but that's all gone now so it's time to look at their latest effort. The 2009 Milton pinot is less gutsy than it's predecessor. We recommended that you leave the 08 open for half an hour so it balanced out. This isn't necessary with the 09. It does have a slightly spiky backend but this just makes it interesting. We tried it with baked chicken and zucchini wraps and the spiky nature of the wine cut though beautifully. Overall it's a very satisfying drop. 
 

When we interviewed John Rees from Nandroya Vineyard last year we had a pre-release tasting of his 2009 Pinot. At that time John was worried that the wine was too good too early, would it last he wondered. Well we tried it again a couple of weeks ago and it is trundling along very nicely.

This wine has a blackberry appearance with a deep strawberry nose. It's subtle fruit taste isn't marred by the slightly pointy tannin backend. The whole thing is nicely rounded out by gentle but lingering back end.  It is yet another example of a very fine Tasmanian pinot.

Ok so we now know that Morningside make a pretty mean chardonnay but is their latest pinot as good as the earlier ones? Yes it is as a matter of fact. The 2009 Morningside pinot is a gem. The strawberry and cherry nose lead you on to an intensely fruit wine that finishes with a rounded smoky back end.

The backend on this wine is long, very long. So long it could star in one of those adult movies we've never seen and don't know what you're are talking about .... 
 

Neil Snare told us his 2008 Winstead pinot is a 'feminine' wine. "It's elegant, soft and rounded". He's right you know but to get the full effect this wine needs to breath for at least a half hour. Prior to that the tannins tend to dominate.

We've said it before and we expect to be saying it again in the future, Neil really knows how to make pinot. The 08 is a cracker.

Our introduction to Elmslie was via their 2006 pinot and what a great first impression. We still rate it as one of the best 2006 Tasmanian pinots we've ever tried. This was followed by the 2008 pinot we reviewed in February. To round out our Elmslie 'pinot frenzy' we managed to get our hands on their 2007 pinot. It's got big shoes to fill .... so does it?

All we can say is cherries, cherries and more cherries. This is a full yet balanced pinot. It is quite intense and won't be something you'll forget in a hurry. It's worth jumping in your car and driving to Launceston just to try it .. or you can get them to send you some in the mail.