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In a few short weeks, Ultimate Winery Josef Chromy Wines in Northern Tasmania will host the third annual Effervescence Tasmania festival, celebrating one of Tasmania’s most celebrated exports, its sparkling wine. Rated as one of the best sparkling wine events in the world in 2015, Effervescence will feature grand degustations and dinners, masterclasses and tastings.
Around half of Tasmania's Pinot Noir and three quarters of its Chardonnay is now highly prized for sparkling wine, with several specialist sparkling houses and many of the island's sparkling wines winning awards and acclaim at home and overseas. In fact, at the end of last year, a Tasmanian sparkling wine made history by being named the first sparkling wine to win Champion Wine at the National Wine Show of Australia.
The success of the Tasmanian wine industry is thanks largely to a landscape dominated by dolerite-capped mountains that shelter the island’s wine regions from high winds and rainfall. The vineyard soils are formed from ancient sandstones and mudstones and also from more recent river sediments and igneous rocks of volcanic origin. Tasmania also enjoys a moderate maritime climate and, as such, enjoys seasons free of extremes in temperature, ideal for grape growing as it allows the grapes to ripen slowly on the vine, resulting in maximum flavour development.
As for Tasmanian sparkling wine, it all began in 1986, when esteemed Champagne house - Louis Roederer partnered with the owners of Heemskerk Wines to produce Tasmania’s first premium vintage sparkling wine having noted remarkable similarities between the climate here and the famous wine region. The investment well and truly paid off and paved the way for other Tasmanian wineries to experiment with sparkling. Fast forward 30 years and Tasmania continues to produce sparkling wines that can stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the best in the world.
Chief Winemaker at Josef Chromy, Jeremy Dineen, recently told Wine Companion (for the article “The Success of Tasmania’s Wines”) that “Tasmania is the most exciting place in Australia to be making wine at the moment. Sparkling wine grapes are among the best in the world and the sparkling wines have been continually improving – just look at reviews or wine show scores.”
Jeremy is certainly well placed to comment. Josef Chromy Wines currently produces five different sparkling wines, from the Pepik SEKT and Sparkling Rosé to their premium Zdar Sparkling, the range is consistently well regarded.
In our soon-to-be-announced product offering for next year, we are very excited to introduce a new experience at Josef Chromy:
The Art of Sparkling
Go behind the scenes and tour the Josef Chromy winery and learn the how traditional method Sparkling wine is made. The art of making sparkling is explained (and tasted along the way) from base wine to corking and wiring. The tour commences at the Cellar Door and takes in the history of the vineyard and the Tasmanian Wine Industry.
Guests will witness disgorging the sparkling wine to remove the yeast, work with the winemaking team to choose and add the liquour, the final step in sparkling wine making. Each participant will produce a bottle of sparkling to their own taste and conclude with a two-course lunch matched with wine and a complementary tasting.
Please contact us if you are interested in booking this fantastic experience.
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