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The Neil Snare Podcast
snare_conversation_part_one.mp3	In this part of our conversation: Neil tells us about how he started in winemaking and gives us the history behind his label.  He tells us why he is a fan of young wines from young vines, what new varieties he is growing, and what it is like to grow vines in a low rainfall area. We then tackle the dangers of 'passion' and Neil has some good advice for would be vineyard owners.  Neil tells us about the barrel samples of the 08 Pinot Noir he had us taste.  Lastly PJ has to confess his 'Pinot, I don't get it ' shame and Neil helps him to understand why Pinot should be part of every wine lover's life.
snare_conversation_part_two.mp3	This is where we taste the 08 Pinot barrel samples and Neil explains how he deals with various grades of fruit and decides if a wine is good enough to be a 'reserve'.  We get a good insight into how and why Neil became a winemaker. We have a bit too much fun discussing the role of luck in wine making and then get serious again and discuss the pros and cons of the Tasmanian wine industry. Lastly we pitch an exciting new business opportunity to Neil.
snare_conversation_part_three.mp3	The last part of our conversation kicks off with Neil telling us why we should go out and buy Winstead Wine. He also deals with the issue of variability in his 'hand made' wine. We move on to tackle the 'cork V cap' issue and end up discussing wine snobs. We hear about Neil's wife and her no nonsense approach to wine tasting. We finish off with our usual 'getting to know you' questions.

Neil Snare - had a bit of go and ended up a master craftsman.

Neil Snare.As we headed up the Midland Highway to the world's second most famous Bagdad, PJ was thinking "how am I going to spend an hour of my life talking about Pinot Noir without sounding bored or dismissive?" Fortunately Neil Snare took care of that by clearing up a few misconceptions we had about Pinot.

The reason for our reluctance needs some explanation.  Some people in the Winepunter Engine Room (mostly PJ - Ed) believe Pinot Noir is the drink of choice of wine tosspots and complain that Pinot is too often a watery, thin waste of time wine.  Harsh we hear you say and, as we were to find out, completely untrue when someone like Neil Snare is making it.

Neil was another winemaker we met at the Southern Tasmanian Vineyards Red Wine Weekend and what impressed us was his sense of humour and his patience in answering our questions.  We are always impressed with a person who can quickly and easily explain something without having to resort to technical jargon or impenetrable language.  This skill has no doubt come from his former life as a teacher.

In their recent article "In the Hall of the Pinot King", Tasmanian Life magazine nominated Joe Holyman of Stoney Rise vineyard as the "Pinot King" but we believe that if Neil isn't a contender for the throne he is definitely in the Pinot making royal family.

The view!. If you are surprised that someone has planted vines in a place like Bagdad you wouldn't be on your own.  While Winstead is close to the Coal River Valley as the crow flies, many people questioned Neil's decision to plant Pinot and Riesling vines where he did.  As he told us people kept saying 'why there, it's too bloody dry and too bloody cold!".  

All we can say is that the day we spoke to Neil it was beautiful and both Gav and PJ came away with a slight tan.  Neil has a couple of beautiful Border Collies who gave us an enthusiastic welcome and helped, along with the crows and the local flying school, to provide the atmospherics on the podcast.   
We set up in front of Neil's winery and much to our delight he produced barrel samples of his 2008 Pinot vintage.  You're jealous we can feel it coming through the wires to our computer!  Feeling like a couple of kids at Christmas time we raced through the 'getting to know you pleasantries' and got on to the major issue - Pinot Noir.  

Most of the first part of our conversation was dedicated to talking about whether Pinot has a purpose and how a good Pinot should taste.  Since Neil really knows his Pinot he was able to clearly set out the characteristics of a good Pinot and why wine lovers should drink it.  The highlight for us was the explanation as to why some of the pinot we had tried was watery and thin.  You should listen to the podcast for the full explanation but if you can't wait and are just dying to know now, it's too much fruit on the vines (what Neil calls over cropping). This result is a larger volume of fruit but with a reduction in the intensity of the flavours.  As they say you can't make good wine from 'bad' fruit.

08 Pinot samples. If you enjoyed the conversation with Neil so far keep an eye out for the second and subsequent parts of our conversation which will be posted over the next couple of weeks.  We would like to finish with our favourite Neil Snare quote from the first part of our conversation. "(without water) we couldn't even grow sauvignon blanc and that's a weed!"

Update from the second part

If you are interested in some of the decisions that have to be made when making wine then we think you will enjoy what Neil has to say in the second part of our conversation.  He gave us a real insight into how you guage the fruit that will go into the wine and then how you decide what to do with that fruit in order to get the best possible outcome.  We also really enjoyed what he had to say about being part of the Tasmanian Wine industry.  

We have to say we don't support Neil's choice of AFL football team and we have to extend our apologies to any Kiwi readers.  A more professional outfit would have been able to avoid the cheap, but amusing, shot at our cousins from over the ditch but as we say we have no professional aspirations.  

Neil's equipment.

We should also apologise to any monarchists out there, we admit we are not as supportive of Prince Charles' attempts to address climate change as we should and we will spend some time in naughty corner to think about our attitudes.

Update from the third part

Maybe it was the wine tasting but this section of the conversation seemed the most relaxed.  We should warn people that this part contains the occasional use of coarse language (surprisingly it wasn't the Winepunter boys using it! - Ed) .  It wasn't all foolery - we did tackle some serious issues. Neil had some interesting comments about the cork versus cap debate and you will get a clear idea about what Neil thinks of some of the snobbery that surrounds wine. 

We really enjoyed talking to Neil, as you could probably tell, and would like to thank him for his time.  PJ admitted that he may have changed his attitude to Pinot Noir as a result of this conversation (Tell me that's not a misprint! - Ed).

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