Of wine and roses

Born and raised the son of a local priest in southern Tasmania's Huon Valley, Elsewhere Vineyard's Eric Phillips is a complex character, endowed with a sharp mind, and the happy knack of being able to turn his hands to practically anything that comes his way. 

In his youth, he worked as a volunteer worker abroad for many years. At various other times in his life, Phillips has been a journalist, a builder, a teacher and a farm manager.

Having returned to his roots with his Danish-born wife Jette, Phillips' life-work these days is firmly focused on continuing the successes of two of the Huon Valley's more unusual enterprises. The couple own and operate a thriving cut-flower business as well as an extensive cool climate vineyard, one that's consistently yielded some of the State's best wines during the past four years.

Located at Glazier's Bay - an hour south of Hobart on the Huon River estuary - Elsewhere Vineyard is home to a 2ha 'Garden of Eden' and 8ha of classic European wine grape varieties.

"We've always taken the view that a farm should be able realise more than one product," Phillips muses.

The couple's recent unrivalled successes provide a timely reality check for any critic who might think the valley is only capable of sustaining apples and small berry fruits.

It was their flower business that began the couple's 'days of wine and roses,' says Jette Phillips.

Cut-flower sales paid for the establishment of a small nursery vineyard in 1984. Much-needed cashflow from a thriving Salamanca Market stall then funded its expansion in subsequent years.

"Wine now contributes more than 50 percent to our economic activity," Jette adds.

"It actually pays its own way." 

With three valuable years' experience in south-west France behind him - where he learned to become 'le Jacques of all trades', tending vines in the field, and making wines in the cellars - Eric Phillips set out his family vineyard along traditional European lines.

It features non-irrigated, high-density plantings of Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir. Cabernet Sauvignon was an early settler, too, but was unceremoniously removed from the vineyard, despite the 1990 vintage managing rare gold medal success at the 1994 Tasmanian Regional Wine Show.

It meant ripping out a $90,000 investment they'd made in the variety only a decade earlier.  The job took more than a year and required the loss of 2ha of vines - roughly 4,000 of them - and around four years of production from that part of the vineyard.

"To do otherwise was to fly in the face of reason," Phillips says emphatically.

"Even though it succeeded in three years out of every four, the cropping levels were so low that it was not an economic proposition. A crop that doesn't pay its own way simply has no place on a farm."

Phillips says the brief history of the wine industry in Tasmania meant that making decisions about what to plant where often required being prepared to take a chance and make your own luck.

"At the time we planted our Cabernet you couldn't take advice from anyone because nobody had any expertise with it down here," he recalls.

"But recognising its particular problems, we gave it the best slopes in the whole vineyard."

These days, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir account for around three-quarters of the vineyard's annual production.

Gone, too, are Phillips's winemaking responsibilities.

"They've long since passed to specialists," he explains.

"We abandoned making our own wine when we got to a genuinely commercial level. That coincided with professional expertise becoming more readily available to make it a better financial proposition... We felt it better not to risk a whole year's production on unqualified winemaking when we could use a qualified winemaker instead."

Since taking on his role in 1990, Hobart-based Andrew Hood has established a solid-gold track record for the site's still table wines. The excellent 1994 Elsewhere Pinot Noir was shortlisted as a trophy contender at this year's Tasmanian Regional Wine Show back in January.

Increasing vine age and bottle age is also contributing to Elsewhere's remarkable success at national show level, with the vineyard rapidly acquiring benchmark status for Pinot Noir in Tasmania.

The highly talented Steve Lubiana - at Granton Vineyard - presently keeps a watchful eye on Elsewhere's first sparkling wine, due for release in coming months.

Huon Valley venturers should take note. Elsewhere's prime location - in a region with abundant fisheries nearby - ensures that it's well-placed to offer some of the valley's best wines to suit the local fare.

Consider the 1994 Elsewhere Vineyard Chardonnay ($16 cellar-door). Forget what the label says - just drink the wine, for there's only the remotest connection between this Chardonnay and most other Australian Chardonnays.

Light-medium bodied, it's devoid of any oak influences, relying instead on slightly herbaceous characters derived from a small addition of Sauvignon Blanc. Crisp and dry in the glass, it's another fine Elsewhere.

Fine Elsewhere? Hmmm…sounds like a weather forecast.

First published 13 October 1994: The Advocate