Tasmania

Tasmania is considered to be a separate Australian wine region, made up of several districts, each with climatic and terrain dissimilarities. They are: Pipers River, the Tamar Valley (in the north), the Derwent Valley, the Huon Valley, the Coal River Valley/Richmond (in the south) and Bicheno (on the East Coast). It is a common fallacy to imagine that all Tasmanian wines are similar, or have similar backgrounds, when nothing could be further from the truth. If there is a common link, it comes most clearly through Pinot Noir and Riesling, with Chardonnay not far behind – particularly when the latter is teamed up with Pinot Noir in the production of sparkling wine. The Alsace-trio of Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris are especially suited to the Pipers River table wine, however, several wineries have demonstrated the finesse and extreme quality of sparkling wines from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The Derwent Valley and East Coast fall somewhere in between, the latter with sites producing excellent Cabernet Sauvignon as well as superb Pinot Noir, and fine Riesling and Chardonnay. Domaine “A” and Stefano Lubiano Wines are prime examples.