No, I don't mean there aren't any wines here -- just that there's a drought. A lot of OZ has a serious drought, but we didn't expect it here in the emerald isle. You'll be relieved I'm sure to know that the vines aren't affected. In fact, they are quite happy because their roots go low.
The wines we get in Ontario seem to be the best we've seen of the major wineries here. Ninth Island, Piper Brook, Tamar Ridge are the biggest and most consistent. You wouldn't believe how small some of the other wineries are : we saw one that was 2 hta -- I'm not sure that could give John and I enough wine to drink in a year!
Others of note were:
Providence -- They now have quite good wines, but their history is a sad story about the first man to try to grow vines in Tassie. He was from Provence and the year was 1955. He brought his soil thermometer and decided to start a vineyard in the tamar valley (north Tasmania), but the neighbours anfd the governments in north and south tassie would never agree to let him sell his wine. Fast forward to today and you have old vines and some really good wines.
Brook Eden -- just won a gold for their pinot noir. We had a glass for a picnic lunch in their vineyard and it was excellent. Don't expect to see it on Toronto tho -- too small, and they can sell what they have without having to sell their souls to the LCBO.
Kangas, Devils
The road kill here is disturbing -- I have only seen one live kangaroo, but many dead by the side of the road. Tasmanian devils too. Road kill. In NZ we didn't see any, but there's so little life there. It's surprisingly antiseptic.
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