Pipers Brook, shortly to release its new 1995 sparkling wine, has recently commissioned a new and fully automated sparkling wine production facility, which it claims to be the first of its kind in Tasmania. The facility, which incorporates a new and fully integrated disgorging, bottling and labelling plant, has been purchased specifically for the new sparkling brand whose name, to the time of writing, has been kept secret. The plant will also be used to contract out to other Tasmanian makers of sparkling wine. Andrew Pirie, Pipers Brook’s managing director, shares my view that Tasmania is well placed to become a major producer of quality sparkling wine. ‘It is a logical step to have a Tasmanian based sparkling wine production facility which will ensure improved quality control and greater cost efficiencies’, he says. ‘The cool climate, long gradual ripening periods and soils of the north-east are ideally suited to the cultivation of pinot noir and chardonnay grapes’, says Pirie. ‘Tasmania offers enormous potential and is destined to become of the of world’s premium sparkling wine regions.’ Excellent wines I have tasted from Moorilla Estate, Stefano Lubijana, Heemskerk (under the Jansz label which is now owned by S. Smith & Son) and Elsewhere Vineyard underpin the enormous potential Tasmania brings to the Australian sparkling scene. It will be interesting to taste the first Pipers Brook wine and certainly no expense is being spared to launch it to an expectant market. In the 1998 vintage around 20% of Tasmania’s entire crop of around 3,000 tonnes was processed for sparkling wines. The new Pipers Brook wine will be launched at the company’s 25th Anniversary celebrations on 26 February 1999.
