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The Elmslie podcast

elmslie_the_chat.mp3 (20.6 mb,  22:33 minutes) elmslie_the_chat2.mp3 (12.6 mb,  13:47 minutes)

The conversation starts with a brief background on the vineyard and it's location, we move on to hear how dressing as Elvis can be very dangerous, we learn about how Robert's sons 'help' with the harvest, we discuss how politics has ruined saw milling. We discuss the winemaking philosophy at Elmslie to understand why they produce so many great tasting wines. To finish we talk about how to get to the Elmslie vineyard. In the second part we broaden our conversation to take in the Elmslie role within the Tamar Valley wine route, specifically we asked why they are big fans of the wine route, Robert gives us a lesson in terroir and to finish Geoff tries to hit us up for an appearance fee.

Geoff Lidgerwood, Robert French - happy happy joy joy .....

We hear the phrase "good wine is made in the vineyard" quite a lot. This refers to the fact that the quality of the wine is largely determined by the quality of the source fruit rather than the heroic efforts of 'skilled winemakers'. This view is particularly popular amongst viticulturalist.  But we think this misses the point somewhat. 

To our mind, the wine making process is dependant on the quality of all the people involved. Even excellent fruit won't result in the best wine if the process is driven by uninterested or profit obsessed people. Maybe the saying should be "good wine is made by good people". By 'good' we mean happy, motivated and passionate people.

Geoff and Robert

Unfortunately walking into a happy productive workplace doesn't happen anywhere near as often as it should. This is true even in the wine industry which attracts more than it's fair share of motivated individuals. The first thing that struck us at Elmslie Estate was the relaxed, happy and somewhat charged atmosphere. This is a group of people who literally love what they are doing.

We have had the pleasure of drinking the Elmslie three mountain view cabernet and we wanted to find out a bit more about the people who could produce such a wonderful drop. Geoff Lidgerwood (marketing) and Robert French (self described dogs body) took time out from enjoying their jobs to sit down with us for a chat.

Elmslie vineyard sits near Legana, close to that famous Tamar Valley landmark 'Grindelwald', which proves that old adage "people will turn up by the bus load to look at pretend swiss villages".  The Elmslie site has a long agricultural history being established as a farm in the early 1900's. The original vineyard was planted in the 1970's but unfortunately it was laid out in such a way that not only was keeping the vines disease free nigh on impossible but Robert described it as "an ankle breaking awful thing". As a result the original vines have had to be removed which required the serious application of a 23 tonne excavator. "Some of the vines had tap roots 8 m long ... years later they are still coming up!" Robert said.

Geoff, Cindy and Robert

Kevin French (Robert's father) bought the property in 2000 as a 'fun retirement thing' after having spent over 50 years in the timber milling game. In fact, the French family is well known in Scottsdale and was once a major employer in the town. Over the years however the attraction of the timber industry paled somewhat. "I'd had it with timber milling" Robert commented "I'm not political and it had become very political". Aside from the politics the industry itself is demanding. "It's all consuming ... Dad is so much happier now he's out of saw milling". 

Kevin may have purchased the property originally in order to have an outlet in his retirement but it hasn't taken he and Robert long to realise the potential of the location. "This is the greatest thing for the Tamar" Geoff enthused "there is nowhere at the start of the Tamar for people to come and sit down to have a nice meal". The family has big plans for this site. An upmarket cafe, cellar door and a wedding chapel are either in train or on the drawing board.

At the mention of the wedding chapel we had to ask if Elmslie Estate would take on Las Vegas and provide Elvis weddings. "We'll do anybody's wedding, thank you very much" Geoff responded in his best 'The King' voice. Turns out he has a track record as Elvis having attended at least one party dressed as the great man. Geoff has a warning for anyone who has a yearning to live the life of an Elvis impersonator. "Those costumes become almost see through when you sweat so make sure you wear a good pair of undies" he laughed. We can see the warning signs now 'Elvis was in the military but he never went commando' or 'for the comfort of others please dress appropriately and refrain from sweating into this costume' or 'show your family jewels - just like that!"

A great review

While the eventual development at Elmslie Estate will be impressive, at it's heart this is a vineyard and winery and it's success will depend on the quality of their wine. Robert has some definite ideas about how they will maintain the quality of their product. "I refuse to pick the fruit if the seed's not ripe ... if there is a hint of greenness in the seed then that fruit stays on" he declared. 

Frankly we love that attitude and we hope it catches on.  As Robert points out following this rule does mean picking fruit that may be slightly shrivelled but it delivers a much better result. He believes that picking fruit, especially cabernet, too early is the reason that "Tasmanian cabernets have got their reputation as the cabbages of the wine world".

This may upset other cabernet makers but Robert isn't the only person we have spoken to who understands that ripening fruit is part of the secret of making good cabernet. Robert also mentioned that Elmslie will release a shiraz soon and we expect that it will be a rich, full of flavour delight, like their cabernet. The signs so far are very good. Robert made our eyes light up when he said "I tried it the other day and I was stunned, its far ahead of where I expected it to be".

Trick photography!

It's not just the timing around the fruit picking, Robert and Geoff were also full of praise for their wine maker Eric Howell. Mind you, why wouldn't you be given the fact that he worked with both Andrew Pirie and Guy Wagner, two of Tasmania's premier winemakers. Despite this background and his undoubted abilities Eric is an extremely modest person. We had to trick him in order to get his photo for this article. In our experience modest people are far better at what they do than the "Lord it's hard to be humble" crowd. Self promotion is no substitute for ability (unless you're running a wine website! - Ed).

As we said earlier Elmslie is chock full of dedicated people and this dedication appears to extend to the Tamar Valley as a whole.  Geoff in particular is an enthusiastic supporter and has even addressed the Launceston City Council to tell them what an asset they have in the wine route group. "Listen to them, help them" he pleaded. 

Both Geoff and Robert are very clear about how important it is to promote the whole valley rather than just their own label. They argue that Tasmanian wines suffer from a perception that they are over priced and this persists due to the actions of the bulk wine producers who push their wines on the basis of price. To counteract this they want to promote both the Tamar Valley and their own additional offerings. 

Elvis wedding?

"We want to give people reasons to visit" Geoff said. The process has already started, at the time of our conversation the Lithgow Art Gallery was about to open on site. Along with well regarded art the gallery would showcase the music of Robert's great grandfather Alex Lithgow. Those of you into big band marching music will be doing your happy dance at the prospect of seeing original manuscripts  from a recognised master in this genre. 

If you aren't into marching music Alex's life is a classic musical genius story. He produced great music, died in virtual poverty but has since gained wider recognition by being inducted into the Launceston Hall of Fame. Seriously, if there's not a hit movie in that we give up. Remember "brassed off " anyone?

It certainly seems like Elmslie will eventually be an 'experience' and we will be interested to see how things progress. However we don't envy them the challenge they have set themselves. Being good at wine is hard enough but add in weddings, art, food and playgrounds makes the mind boggle. 

From our perspective as long as they continue to produce their intense wines we will be happy. The Elmslie range is one of our favourites and long may this continue (amen - Ed).

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