Two in the bush

There are some 250 million bubbles of carbon dioxide crammed into your average 750ml bottle of non-vintage Champagne. At least, that's the estimate scientist Bruno Dutertre came up with back in the 1980s after a three-year, $7 million study carried out by Möet & Chandon. Strange, that. 

You never hear anyone estimating the number of bubbles you'd find trapped in a soufflé or contributing to the freshness of your sliced white loaf.

That seems too trite and inconsequential. Somehow the mere mention of prestige sparkling wine changes the ground rules entirely.

That in a roundabout way explains the significance of last week's announcement by Adelaide Hills wine producer Bird in Hand that it intends to develop a 60ha vineyard on the State's East Coast over the next three years. Its goal will be to produce exceptional cool climate Tasmanian wine grapes, ideally suited to the creation of prestige sparkling wines.

The family-owned company, located at Woodside 37km east of Adelaide, has already put its toe in at the deep end of the Australian sparkling wine pool.

Back in mid-2017, it released for sale 28 dozen bottles of 2007 Lalla Victoria Late Disgorged Sparkling Pinot Noir. Aged on its yeast lees for 10 years, the wine set a record price for an Adelaide Hills sparkling wine – a heady $175 a bottle. Critical acclaim seemed similarly short in supply at the time.

Bird in Hand's ambitious expansion into Tasmanian cool climate viticulture will provide it with ample opportunity to enhance the quality and status of the company's prestige sparkling wine portfolio.

"World-class Adelaide Hills fruit, combined with higher acid fruit from Tasmania, will provide us the best possible blend," Bird in Hand founder Andrew Nugent told Adelaide media earlier this week.

His company's flagship – the 2015 Nest Egg Joy Sparkling Pinot Noir, which sells for $75 – is presently subject to a 12-bottle purchase limit. That in part is due to the wine's limited production base within the close confines of its Adelaide Hills geography.

The developments outlined on February 19 will be located on a 180ha parcel of productive farmland the company purchased at Seymour in November 2020. As an experienced winemaker and viticulturist, Nugent says the site lies at the edge of the renowned Douglas Apsley National Park and will be transformed into a contemporary viticultural showpiece, managed according to industry best practice.

Site preparations are to commence shortly. These will include construction of a vast 16ha dam that will have a capacity of some 300ML, well in excess of the water requirements for establishing vines in this frequently parched region of Tasmania's central East Coast.

An initial planting of 4ha in the vineyard's rich dolerite soils will take place during the spring of 2021. Bicheno's Freycinet Vineyard – located barely 16km away – has agreed to supply and process small parcels of its own estate grown fruit until the new development's first crops become available in 2024.

Nugent states the Seymour vineyard will provide a home to more than just Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines.

"Our goal is to be able to enhance the flora, fauna and biodiversity of the region," he says.

"In addition to planting vines, native vegetation will be restored, and endemic shrubs and flaxes will be added to the site to enhance biodiversity. We want the project to have a positive effect on the landscape. A key part of that will be the establishment of numerous wildlife corridors that will enable animals and birds to access the neighbouring coastline and national park through parts of the vineyard."

Nugent says Bird in Hand plans to affirm the quality of Australian wine by showcasing the land which it calls home. The site's dam and vineyard construction, for example, will contribute aesthetic qualities to the site as well as water and wine grapes.

"We plan to create a pre-eminent destination with ambitious land art traversing these ancient soils," he explains.

"I'm really enamoured by what I see happening in Tasmania. It's likely to become a really outstanding viticultural State. There's no doubting the spectacular beauty of our vineyard setting. It's wonderful.

"Our intention is to tie everything into the spirit of the place. Sense of place is an important part of wine culture. So our dam won't just be a place for water storage. We want it to be really quite sculptural, as well as forming the basis of significant natural habitat."

Marty Smith from Absolute Viticulture regards the new developments as further proof of the State's position of pre-eminence when it comes to growing and making premium Australian sparkling wines. An East Coast resident and vineyard owner, Smith and his family live at Cranbrook, some 45km south of Seymour. The talented viticulturist grew up on Clover Hill, a purpose-built sparkling wine operation located at Lebrina, in the Pipers River district of northern Tasmania.

He says he knows the Seymour/Bicheno district well. He's also admired its foreshores and vineyard slopes while surfing the many popular breaks dotted along the coastline.

"It's a brilliant spot," Smith says of the vineyard site.

The bloke from Blackwood House is regarded as one of the State's leading project consultants and vineyard contractors.

"The vineyard will be ideally suited to a top-end sparkling wine product. I've been working with Bird in Hand for some months now, and while they may be a small family company, they are certainly very, very good operators. Everything they do, they do very well."

"Andrew Nugent and his team are a welcome addition to the East Coast of Tasmania," adds near neighbour and renowned Freycinet sparkling winemaker, Claudio Radenti.

"Their plans to develop their scenic and ideally situated property at Seymour are exciting. Given their exceptional expertise in viticulture, winemaking and marketing, Bird in Hand can only enhance Tasmania's excellent reputation as a producer of world-class wine."

First published 27 February 2021: tasmaniantimes.com