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The Morningside taste
morningside_taste.mp3 (10 mb   11:01 minutes)	Peter takes us through a couple of his wines. Along the way we hear why he likes his 06 pinot, Brenda turns on PJ, we learn what is required to produce a good cabernet, we find out about the mysterious 'boys barrel' and Brenda threatens to leave Peter during the 'shall we plant more vines debate'.

Peter Bosworth and a couple of his current wines

Recently we were talking to Peter and Brenda Bosworth from Morningside Vineyard about life, the universe and everything and while that was going on we were enjoying some of their wines.

Now we know this makes you very jealous, what with us sitting comfortably, having a great conversation and drinking seriously good wine, and while we can't do much about that we did record Peter discussing his wines so at least you can have a listen (it's just like being there ..... or maybe not - Ed).

06 Morningside Pinot noir

Morningside do have an 07 pinot but we wanted to discuss the 06 because we enjoyed it so much at the recent Red Wine Weekend. So we knew why we liked the 06 but we wondered whether Peter liked it, and if he did, why. 

"I like the spice in it, I get a spicy nose, it's got a bit of cherry too". He is also impressed with the rich fruit the wine displays. He regards it as one of his 'bigger' pinots so it comes with good length. We agree. There is a lot going on with this pinot and a lot to like. Given that the pinot vines are some of the oldest (going back to 1980) on the property this isn't surprising.

06 Morningside Pinot pressings

This wine comes from the barrel testing/ tasting process used by Morningside. This process is very well described in the podcast and we encourage you to have a listen.

The pressings is a lighter, fruity pinot and has surprised Peter and Brenda with it's popularity (we bought it! - Ed). We regard it as an everyday drinking pinot. Don't let the name pressings fool you, this is not a quaffer (not that there's anything wrong with that! - Ed). There doesn't seem to be any of this left for sale but you can get your hands on the 07 if you hurry.

06 Morningside Cabernets

Cabernets are Peter's personal favourite wine. Given the often severe criticisms made of Tasmanian cabernet we wondered what it was about this wine that appealed to Peter. "I like the black fruits and cigar boxy characters ... it is a bigger wine than pinot and goes well with certain foods".  Peter and Brenda nominate beef, roast lamb and lamb shanks as the perfect accompaniment to a cabernet.

Peter understands that you can't get the cabernet grapes ripe every year but believes that with the right weather, old enough vines and the right techniques very good cabernet can be produced. 

We agree that the Morningside cabernet is a good wine. It doesn't display the harsh and sour characters you get from some Tassie cabernets. It was a lovely rich well rounded drop.

07 Morningside Chardonnay and 08 Riesling

We didn't actually taste these wines but since they were on the table we thought we should hear about it. "We're not sure where we are going with the Chardonnay ... I started out making full on barrel fermented chardonnay ... but lately I am heading back to ... less oak perhaps more chablis style" "Which I think is much more approachable" Brenda adds. This is causing a bit of a debate amongst Morningside customers with each chardonnay style having its fans. 

Peter and Brenda planted their riesling vines very early on in the life of the vineyard. The chardonnay vines were planted because they thought they might end up producing a 'sparkling' wine (oh say champagne, go on I triple double dare you! - Ed). "Unfortunately it grew very well" Brenda complains "I am not a chardonnay fan" she explains. Not wanting to provoke too much controversy we moved off the topic of chardonnay and back onto riesling. 

"I have a section to fill in ... I want to plant more pinot and riesling" Peter says "Thats when I am leaving" quips Brenda (I thought we were avoiding controversy - Ed).

Hastily we asked what Peter liked about his riesling. "I like the almost dry styles ... the minerally characters". The intention is to pick the riesling a little earlier to keep the alcohol level down.

To find out more and to see where you can purchase these wines go to the Morningside website.

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