The 2009 Winesouth
White Wine Weekend
(10th and 11th October)
The crowd at the WWW
We've said it before and we will say it again - the White
Wine
Weekend is a marquee event and we love it. Wall to wall excellent wine
and another opportunity for us to chat to punters (keepin' it rool! - Ed). There
is so much wisdom, humour and drama just waiting to burst forth
and have it's moment in the sun. However things didn't quite go as we
planned.
We don't know if it's the financial crisis or the influence
of tabloid media but we found ourselves having the following
conversation a few times on the weekend.
Punter: "How much will you pay me for the interview?"
PJ: "Ok, how's this? We will give you a percentage of what
we make. Since we make nothing doing this and in fact it costs us
money,
you owe us $30."
Punter: "Oh."
Follow the stickers
The other thing we noticed is that everyone was so well
behaved and a bit shy. Unfortunately the responsible serving of alcohol
message appears to be getting through to people. This has to stop. How
can we record and post things that people later regret if everyone acts
in such a sensible manner?
We had to try some pretty sneaky things to get the audio.
Seriously, it was like auditioning to be a 'reporter' on A Current
Affair! You can hear how easily punters saw through our
attempts here.
What the
punters thought
Despite the fun and games we did meet a bunch of
courageous, outspoken and very nice punters who were happy to share
their views:
| The
No Cash for Comments
Podcasts |
Natalie.mp3
(5.22mg, 5:42 minutes) |
This
was the second time Natalie had been
interviewed by winepunters. This time however we didn't lose the
audio. This whale watching
scientist has a way with words. Describing wines with phrases such as
"like a thousand butterflies" she takes us
through her favourite wines. In case you're wondering, the Minky whales
are doing ok. Natalie will be at the event next year if you
have any further questions. |
Tim.mp3
(7.65mb, 8:21minutes) |
Tim, recently arrived
from the city of churches, gives us the low down on
his favourite wines and offers a bit of advice for the organisers. He
also grabbed the microphone and tried to interview PJ and Michelle.
Good luck getting that up on our site, the post production editor rules
supreme! |
Jonty.mp3
(5.22mg, 5:42 minutes) |
Jonty
was the first cab off the rank. Married to the shy Fiona, he
had recently moved to
Hobart from Launceston and was able to compare tasting events from both
ends of the island. |
Kathryn.mp3
(7.65mb, 8:21minutes) |
Kathryn is "a well known
girl around town" and an enthusiastic lover of Tassie wine. She was
also dobbed in by her friends and you can hear about her latest
'Fevola'
moment. |
Vanessa.mp3
(6.4mb, 6:59 minutes) |
Vanessa the PE teacher
helped
us 'learn' about her views on Tassie wine. Interestingly she prefers
red wine but she is being 'turned' by Paul Stranan's sexy beard and is
now a committed Darlington sav blanc fan. She was joined by her friend
Ellie who said it was nice to meet us! She thought the event is good
value for money and will definately be back next year. |
Edwina.mp3
(4.2mb, 4:35 minutes) |
Edwina works as a nurse
in a hospital that has got a bit of press lately but as usual the
reality is very different from what the media portrail. She also had
some
interesting things to say about the White Wine Weekend. |
Our Highlights
You all know we like this event so we won't bang on about it
again. A lot of what we said about last year applies again. So lets
talk about the wines. We didn't get a chance to try everything (we spent too much time begging
punters to talk to us - Ed) but we did give the
rieslings, sav blancs and chardonnays a run for their money.
Rieslings
Consistently good. You could buy any of them with
confidence. In
fact, if you aren't sure you like riesling the 08 and 09 vintages from
any of the Winesouth members may well change your mind. Neil Snare
mentioned that a lot of winemakers found they couldn't ferment their
rieslings as dry as they wanted. "The French call it the will of God"
he said. So many of the 'dry' rieslings had a small amount of residual
sugar. No complaints from us, we like the sweet highlight this gives
the
wine. You still get the dry sharp finish so you acid freaks won't be
disappointed.
We liked what Peter Shields had done with the
riesling grapes from Darlington Vineyard.
The result was that the 09 Kilbowie Darlington is a refreshing, steely
dry riesling with a very long citrus finish. "We used Portugese yeast
and cold stabilised for 12 weeks instead of the usual 4 - 6 weeks"
Peter explained.
The 09 Morningside riesling was one of the 'will of God'
rieslings. "Dry on the label, sweet on the palate and the punters love
it" enthused Neil. Whatever the reason, this riesling had a wonderful
rich vanilla nose, velvety feel and an amazing sweet/citrus
finish.
Graeme and his map
The 07 Frogmore Creek riesling won awards and we reckon the
08 may well repeat that feat.
We thought we were trying the 08 Moorilla but it turned out
a
rogue 07 had got onto the table. No one realised until an eagle eyed
punter noticed that the label wasn't offending anyone. "Where's the
porno wine?" he enquired. For the record the 07 was very tidy even sans
rudey label.
We know we sound like we have joined the Neil Snare
fan club (started by
Craig and Karen from Two Bud Spur - Ed) but we reckon the
07 Winstead is an absolute corker.
Chardonnays
All the ones we
sampled were good. These wines prove yet again why it makes no
sense to be part of the ABC (anything but chardonnay) crowd. In fact,
if
you know someone like that ring them up and tell them how sorry you
feel for them.
As expected producers like Spring Vale, Bream Creek and
Moorilla continue to create consistent high quality
chardonnays.
Home Hill impressed with the 07 unwooded which, despite it's
name,
had a slight oak finish. The 06 Kelly's Reserve was an absolute corker.
We also enjoyed trying the Cape Bernier chardonnay. Alistair
is
particularly impressed with his 08. "It's brilliant! ... I left it open
in the fridge for two weeks by accident and it was still really good!"
So this is a 'treat me bad, really bad, I like it' kind of wine. But
our
favourite was the 07 which had a deeper colour and was bigger and
richer. It's amazing what a difference a year makes.
Mark Smith
Sauvignon Blanc
These wines were a big hit with the punters, several of whom
nominated this as their favourite variety. We are more old school and
so prefer the riesling and chardonnay but we tried a few to see what
the fuss was about. We can understand why the punters flock to them
because they were all drinkable fun wines.
It was our first experience of Nandroya and we
found the 07
very enjoyable. John Rees mentioned that they are still drinking their
04 so it shows that well made sav blancs can and maybe should be
allowed to age.
The standout for us was the 08 Moorilla which came in what
has to
be the heaviest wine bottle in creation. "It's the weapon of choice in
a bar fight" a punter told us. This very different wine delivers a lot
more than we expected and if you like vanilla and a bit of oak then
this is the wine for you.
Rose
This is the first time these types of wines have made it to
the
White Wine Weekend and we think this is where they belong. Spring and
Summer is rose weather. Don't be put off by all the lolly water that is
sold as rose, this is a serious wine and good examples of it are well
worth buying.
Although only a few examples were there the quality was
exceptional. You can't go wrong when you are looking at rose's from
producers like Derwent Estate, Puddleduck and Bream Creek.
We really liked the Bream Creek Pinot Rose. It was very
fruity,
had a good balance and spot on clean finish. The sweet highlight was
just right. It was like a good party guest - fun but doesn't hang
around too long.
Our thoughts
We regard the White Wine Weekend as the start of the wine
tasting
season in Tasmania. This weekend is the start of a period that includes
two wine shows, the Taste of Tasmania,
Festivale, the open
winery weekend and a bunch of other smaller tasting events. It is a
frenzy of sniff, swirl, sip
and spit. It is
the perfect opportunity to stock up the cellar so you can get
through winter surrounded by a wonderful haze. We look forward
to
this 'season' almost as much as we look forward to the footy
season.
Gill and Jackie
Having said that we want to know why more people don't take
advantage of this chance to try so much excellent wine. While the turn
out was good on Saturday the same couldn't be said for Sunday. As Dave
Cush put it "the numbers were disappointing". If you did go then get
onto your mates and get them along next year.
More to come
There are more photos in our gallery
and we have more audio
from punters to come.
We had the good fortune to run into Natalie who we
interviewed at last year's White Wine Weekend. PJ managed to lose the
audio we recorded and so had the opportunity to apologise in person and
to promise that he would be far more careful this time.
You can buy as well as taste
You will be able to listen to her in the next update (31st
Oct). Not only does she have a wonderful turn of phrase when giving her
views on Tassie wine but she is a great example of what we have been
saying for a long time. Forget the rules and just describe the wines as
you find them.
Let
us know what you thought about this article or the event. Send
us a comment