The Winesouth White Wine Weekend (20th and 21st September 2008) - eye witness account by PJ

If you have been looking out your window lately you would have noticed that spring is on the way.  This is both a good and a bad thing.  On the plus side, the days are getting longer and warmer.  So I am looking forward to spending more time in the surf and eating summer fruit and veggies from my garden.  However, spring also means the end of 'watch the whole game' sports like AFL football to be replaced by 'boring - just show me the highlights' sports like soccer, cricket and tennis (still with us sports fans? - Ed).  

Dee Atkinson.

As winter recedes, I find myself going through my normal 'heading into spring' routine.  I start to get over yet another disappointing finish to the AFL season by North Melbourne (Ha, I go for Carlton - oh yeah thats right .... sob - Ed), I drink less red wine and my mind starts to turn to whites.  I mustn't be the only one thinking about the joy that is white wine because lo and behold along comes the White Wine Weekend (omg...www! - Ed).

Winesouth were also responsible for the Red Wine Weekend in June (if you want to know what we thought of that click here).   This event was held in the IXL Atrium part of the Henry Jones building, which is a swanky luxury hotel in the Constitution Docks area of Hobart.  It used to be part of a jam and fruit processing factory but now houses upmarket fashion outlets and various 'fine dining' type cafes.  

This time, however, things were a little different.  The good people at Winesouth had given us permission to interview people at the event to get their feedback.  So the Winepunters.com resident sparkling wine expert Michelle and I went along, accompanied by our portable recorder, to hear what the 'punters' thought about being in the presence of 21 southern Tasmanian vineyards with their 64 'finest' white wines.  Of course, we also took the opportunity to indulge in some shameless promotion of this humble website (and PJ indulged in some shameless flirting with the pretty girls - Ed).  

What do the organisers say ?

The Organisers Podcast
Dee Atkinson.mp3	Dee Atkinson, who works at Frogmore Creek Wines, is the event organiser for Winesouth and since we wanted to find out a bit more about the event we put the recorder in front of her face and annoyed her until she spoke to us.  Here is what she had to say.
Tony_Park.mp3	We also interviewed Tony Park who is President of Winesouth.  As a successful business man he had some interesting things to say about the nature and future of the wine industry and he surprised me with his response to my suggestion that his vineyard would be one of his favourite activities.  Have a listen to what he said

What did we like ?

Lucky punters. Picture this.  You walk into a large sunny and very airy location that is surprisingly warm on such a rainy windy day,  you pay your money and pick up your glass.  As you take in the wide range of wine you think to yourself "I know I will end at the sweet wine table but where am I going to start?".  It could be the sparkling, the Riesling, the Sauvignon Blanc,  the .... anyway you get the idea.  Who wouldn't like to have this dilemma?  Seriously, this alone is more than enough to ensure that any sensible person would attend the White Wine Weekend in the future but, as they say on tv, wait there's more!

If you had gone to the White Wine Weekend you would have experienced quality wine, access to the winemakers and vignerons and the ability to taste a range of varieties.  But organisers of this event also addressed the, admittedly minor, concerns we had about the Red Wine Weekend.  As an example, the venue was large enough to provide plenty of room and this made for a very relaxed atmosphere.  

We also liked the fact that many of the people who came to the event were not wine 'experts'.  These everyday people also appreciated the range and quality of the wines on offer and a number of them told us they had discovered new varieties and new vineyards.  The same happened to me.  I had never heard of the Two Bud Spur vineyard and Peter Shields from Kilbowie was spruiking the merits of the Müller Thurgau Riesling.

The thing that really impressed me though was the ability of a weekend like this to introduce people to wine in general and white wine in particular.  We spoke to quite a few punters who rated this event a 'great learning experience' and one person in particular told us they had converted a couple of beer drinking friends to white wine.  Now that deserves a 'winepunters bow of approval' (what the ...? - Ed). 

More lucky punters.

We also loved the way the wine was organised by variety rather than by vineyard.  There is something pretty special about being able to try, say, virtually every southern Tasmanian Riesling in one go and do the same for Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio/Gris.  You got a feel for the 08 vintage as a whole as well as the various styles being employed by the various winemakers.  If the layout was by vineyard then you are changing variety and vintage at each table with all the difficulty that presents for your palate.

The layout may also explain why I had no idea how long I had been at the event and why people were coming up to me and saying "PJ you have been here for hours, what have you tried?" and me answering "er about half the Sav Blancs".  Someone also mentioned to me that the beauty of the layout meant that they could avoid varieties they didn't like.  "Varieties .... didn't like" I know these words are English but I still don't quite understand ....

What did we like maybe not so much?

Personally I didn't feel that anything was wrong with this event, but the 'punters' we interviewed did have some ideas for improvement. 

"It would be nice if there was somewhere to sit".  The only seating option you had was at the various cafes in the atrium but obviously this wasn't free. 

"People are crowding around the tables, why don't they use the room available?".  True, despite the generous amount of space available people did tend to park themselves in front of a particular table and this made it more difficult for others to taste the wines.  Not sure what can be done about this except for people to remember that there are others who want to try the wine.  Also, you can always say 'excuse me' to the parked punters.  We did that and people are very polite and happy to make room.
Peter Shields.

"Some of the wines are too young, maybe they were rushed for this event".  This was raised by a couple of people and since I don't feel qualified to respond, we will ask someone from Winesouth to comment.

But you don't have to rely on what we have to say.  Here is what some of the 'punters' who were there thought.

The Puntastical Podcast
Puntastical.mp3	Punters tell us what they thought of the event.  Due to PJ's incompetence we managed to lose some of the interviews during the editing and for this we humbly apologise.  If you spoke to us and don't hear yourself please don't be offended it wasn't intentional.
Sparkling wine.mp3	At last, someone tackles the 'big' questions.  We wanted to know "is sparkling wine a man's drink?"
Wise words.mp3	This is a collection of our favourite wisdom the punters dispensed to us during the white wine weekend.

Summing up

Another excellent event.  I hope they continue because I can't think of a better way to experience Southern Tasmanian white wine.  Now ... how many sleeps until the Red Wine Weekend? (no folks he really doesn't think about anything else - Ed)

Let us know what you thought about this article or the event. Send us a comment