Ghost Rock P3 2023 Rose

 Gosh, Ghost Rock's P3 2023 Rose is all tomato-y. I'm not saying this is a bad thing.  Colour: light tomato. Aroma: just-ripe tomato. Palate: just-ripe tomato. P3 stands for a trio of grape varieties beginning with the appellation Pinot: Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Meunier. 

 It's big-ish in mouthful, so depends on what you like. 

My best Tasmanian Roses are Small Wonders (used to be Goaty Hill) and Gala, neither of which are over-whelming, but pitched at the right level of love-ability. 

Eastford Creek Non-vintage Sparking Rose

 Eastford Creek's non-vintage (a mixture of annual pickings = 2021-2023) sparkling rose is very pale pink that deepens while pouring into the glass, but nevertheless remains pale in colour. Its aroma is marshmallow-y, and/or fairy-flossy. It is salmon-y on the satisfying long though light palate.

Eastford Creek Vineyard Chardonnay and Gamay (2023)

 (Please also see my post below this post: Thursday, January 16, 2025  Eastford Creek Vineyard Tasmania Pinot Gris 2024.)

Eastford Creek Vineyard (ECV) is a young winery, but, given that, it's wine is surprisingly sophisticated (given also  my memory of tasting early Kangaroo Island (South Australia) wine, which became drinkable 10 years later). 

We arrived to live in Tasmania in early 2021, and ECV was established only three years earlier (2018). Yet I have watched the vineyards expand since 2021. And I think I can say I was an 'early adopter/visitor' to/of ECV because it is on my way out of my village to elsewhere. 

The 2023 ECV Chardonnay is light-to-mid gold in colour and the aroma and palate are all lemon. The palate also lingers. 

I experienced the change from big, buttery Chardonnays in Australia to light ones. But when I returned to the former, I fully appreciated their depth and flavour. Still, many wine drinkers have left the big Chardonnays forever. 

It's a definite problem that  I get used to wines from particular regions, and I have to 're-educate' my palate for the same grape in a distinctly different region. So far, I still think Tasmania, on the whole, does not come up to the standard of Chardonnays from Margaret River and Adelaide Hills, not do Tasmania Rieslings match either German or Clare Valley/Watervale (SA) ones. There are a few exceptions. For example, I was fortunate enough to have a taste of ECV's 'natural' Chardonnay' which I was astounded at, given that I am a verified hater of natural wine. So I am so looking forward to ECV's natural Chardonnay coming soon  to tasting/purchasing. 

It's rare to find alternative varieties in Tasmania, dominated as it is by the regulars of Chardonnay, Sav Blanc, Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. Nevertheless, ECV produces a Gamay. Its 2023 is  similar in colour to Pinot Noir (lightish, transparent ruby red). In perfume it is like a drift of soil particles mixed with a light touch of peanuts and egg yolk. The light palate makes it very drinkable, and makes me think of the word 'town' which is not a bad thing, different as it is to the negative implications of  'city'.