Meander
Valley Wines
Driving
into Meander, the township, I understood why the father of proprietor of Cedar
Cottage Meander, Sarah Williams, believed he had discovered paradise in 1976.
The valley is a floor of green fields hugged by the Great Western Tiers
descending like wide, graded steps across the horizon, below a soft mid-blue
sky. Sarah, too, understands that the valley is a beautiful place. She grew up
there, so her roots are in the soil. Meander has a sense of serenity, breathing
space—and magic.
Meander Valley itself is 3,821 sq km in
extent, from urban areas of Launceston to world heritage areas of wilderness. It’s
above the heart of Tasmania, extending into the north where the Meander Valley
LGA ends and Latrobe LGA begins. The Pallittorre and Punnilerpanner peoples are
the Indigenous owners. Within the two LGAs are the ‘short walks capital’ of northern Tasmania, a Tasting
Trail, and, because of its milk- and dark-chocolate soil, the food bowl of
Tasmania: dairy, truffles, land-farmed salmon, molluscs, crustaceans, fish,
beef, lamb, vegetables, fruit—and grape vines. Tasmanian is in the South-Eastern-Australia wine
zone, and, as a whole, is a region, while within it are sub-regions which the
North-West is. Thus says the Meander Valley Wines’ website says: ‘Tasmanian
wines are all about sub-region and micro-climate’.
Meander Valley Wines (Red Hills) is a 16-minute
drive from Meander township. All of its wine bottles have luminescent-yellow tops,
much like the current revival of 1970’s psychedelic fashion. Its distinctive,
minimalist labels, with vertical text, sans image, and empathetic or
affecting colours—musk pink for Sparkling Rose, pale mauve for Pinot Noir and
teal for Pinot Gris—make the wine easy to recognise amid a discordancy of
bottles on crowded bottle-shop and wine-bar shelves. That neon-bright yellow of
the bottle tops is picked up in lettering: the A in Meander and V in Valley and
Vineyard (a smart choice, since the consonant A is among the strong sounds in those
words).
The Sparkling Rosé is a surprising combination of
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Its colour is a tenderly beautiful ballet-slipper
pink, reminding me of my alma mater, the University of Sydney’s Library with
its copper- or bronze-clad wall/s tinged pink from exposure/age.
The Sparkling is very dry, but still has body and
complexity, with a passing whisper of strawberry sweetness as you drink it down.
The aroma is salmon and musk. Recommended for discerning sparkling drinkers: this
is one of Tasmania’s best; it sits in a well-judged balance of elegance and sophisticated
pleasure. I was shifted to the memory of being in my local, childhood grocery
shop with its glass-box lolly counter full of toffee umbrellas, musk sticks and
the pink among liquorice allsorts.
The Pinot Gris is silver-yellow
in colour with a ballet-pink undertone. The perfume is as if you were smelling cool,
flat satin. The palate is reminiscent of a light Semillon, which I always think
of as an adult grape, taking some seniority of experience to understand and appreciate.
Some bitter orange, some passionfruit. Not lush, but neither is it severe. It’s
like playing a game that demands some brain power but also engages, like Monopoly
perhaps.
ThePinot Noir, in colour, is a clear, light ruby-red like a jewel, typical of
Pinot Noir, and one of the most enticing attributes of this grape. Who could
not admire, who would not love this come-hither colour?
On
being opened for some time, the wine develops a pepper in its perfume much like
a Barossa Shiraz. The palate says ‘young’, but there’s something solid about
this Pinot too, like learning your times-tables with a love of symmetry and
pattern. So maybe not luscious, but as with lines, so acceptable. It’s like organic
cotton, or even muslin at a stretch. Ultimately it reminds me of a sandy beach.
