If you are to look at a map of Tasmania and superimpose its wineries, you might be struck by the diversity of locations, locations that are essentially coastal, or near enough to it, or some other body of water, like a river, dam or estuary. Cool environs, and soils that are usually fertile enough to ripen grapes, but not too much, and fingers crossed, a supply of rainfall that ensures vineyards can be dry grown.
Tasmania is not a coastal climate, but rather an island climate, resulting in capricious weather gods and variable vintage conditions. However, the greatest variable of all are the producer’s themselves. it is still too early to make pronouncements that one region or another produces wines of a particular style, or stylistic footprint, but if I had to narrow the field, my favourite producers tend to be from the Huon Valley, and the two finest are unquestionably Home Hill and Sailor Seeks Horse.
It is a coincidence that Paul and Gilli Lipscombe worked for Home Hill, and that their first wines were made in the Home Hill cellar. The two wine styles are utterly different however, a reflection of site and style preferences. I was lucky enough to recently taste twenty-seven Sailor Seeks Horse wines, including all vintages of chardonnay and all, except the very first of pinot noir. All wines showed beautifully, the differences mostly pertaining to vintage variation and the subtle tweaks of winemaking.
Great sites and great producers are consistent if nothing else and curiously, from the very first vintage, the style of Sailor Seeks Horse was anchored. The site is sloped and warm, and it needs to be in the context of the Huon Valley, if you have any chance of ripening. Quartz soils with mudstone over clay, the vineyard is dry grown, and worked organically. A wide variety of clones have been planted, and although the Lipscombe’s have identified what they believe to be the best clones, and the best parts of the vineyard, I get the impression that nothing is taken for granted and that there are no givens. Every day and every vintage is a time for refection and observation.
The 2023’s
Vintage perfection? There is of course no such thing, but Gilli and Paul Lipscombe described 2023 as an even vintage, without extremes, ideal for the making of fine wines. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is their best release to date. Indeed at the end of a very long tasting, I had to pause and sit right back down, so thrilling was their freshness, power and understated lavishness.
Sailor Seeks Horse Chardonnay 2023
No Huldufolk this, which works for me as this is the finest chardonnay to date. 40 per cent new French oak, no malolactic as usual, the fruit soaking up what has to be very expensive wood. Super fragrant, with spring jasmine, pawpaw, fig, quince, white peach, preserved lime, spicy oak, burnt butter and citrus rind. I won’t say concentrated, but it’s certainly a ball of energy; rippling with flesh and pithy muscle and sprayed with a briny, salty, seaweed. Unique shape, as in everything comes from the core. Left in the glass for a good half hour with subtle reductive notes, passionfruit and Creme Brule. Very long in the mouth, all the elements harmonised the whole way through. Tasmanian Grand Cru.
Sailor Seeks Horse Pinot Noir 2023
Intensely floral, as ever, with English summer red fruits, baking spices and darker hedge fruits. Rich, dense, authoritative, suave and sensual. Such a serious wine, in an effortless sense with a tarry, bitumen element, overlayed with roses. Very Nebbiolo like in some sense, yet the seduction of pinot noir is eternal. The elements dominating, a wonder, harmonised whole. Complex tannins; dry, yet silky, firm, but with a cashmere caress. Without a doubt, the best ever, with decades of pleasure ahead. Tasmanian Grand Cru.
Sailor Seeks Horse Dijon Clone Pinot Noir 2023
The two Dijon clones of 114 and 777, so favoured by Gilli and Paul. Clones are mumbo jumbo to me, but there’s no mistaking the unique nature of this wine. Savoury comes to mind, and a certain discretion; it certainly doesn’t jump out of the glass the way the estate wine does. Brooding and gentle and the wine grows in breadth and stature with time in the glass, but never loses its gentle strokes. Seaweed notes, compost, savoury spice, truffle, dark cherry, sous bois, serrano and blood orange. Still very elemental, we’ll have to see this in another 10 years at least for anything like its best. Utterly different from the estate, though vinified in the same manner, minus a tiny proportion of whole bunches. The tannins are different to, like fine shaved wood; long, firm and textured.
Sailor Seeks Horse Huldufolk Pinot Noir 2023
Perhaps the most idiosyncratic wine in the Sailor Seeks Horse stable, emanating from a single clone, 115, and aged in wood for longer and a higher percentage new, 40 . The most reticent, the oak gripping for now, but patience required, patience given. Time in the glass reveals reductive notes of flint, smoke and tar, and rich earthy elements like manure and mushroom compost. The fruits all red; flecked with marjoram, mint and oregano. Spice is strong here and the tannins, a feature, are very long and deeply etched. Time and lots of it is needed. I only wish there were magnums to be had.
