NV Jansz “Premium Rosé” Brut Sparkling Wine,Tasmania, Australia.
An absolutely delicious Brut Rosé from Jansz, a winery focused on Champagne style sparkling wines on the Australian island of Tasmania, one of the world’s southern most growing regions with a cool climate that favors Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with plenty of zest acidity that gives this wine its verve and elegance. In what Jansz calls sparkling wine made using Méthode Tasmanoise, this Premium Rosé Brut is crafted using multi vintages and blend from 68% Pinot Noir and 6% Pinot Meunier along with 26% Chardonnay, which adds to the richness and length, it also sees close to two years on the lees, with secondary fermentation in bottle. There’s a lot to love about this Tassie Bubbles and I loved the fine mousse and electric feel of the tiny beading along with the impressive dry palate of racy citrus, strawberry, tart cherry fruits and its mineral tones adding lovely white flowers, brioche and a hint of hazelnuts, making for a complex and food friendly bottle. While decedent and polished, this sparkling Rosé with also thrill those that enjoy the grower producer Champagne style, and it is wonderfully easy to enjoy on its own, though as mentioned it has the structure and intensity to go with many cuisines and dishes, including caviar and or briny fresh oysters.
The name Jansz, as the winery notes, pays homage to Tasmania’s namesake, the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman who first sighted the island in 1642. In fact, the estate, when it was established in 1975, the Jansz vineyard was originally named after Tasman’s ship, the Heemskerk. In 1986, esteemed Champagne house – Louis Roederer partnered with the owners of Heemskerk Wines to produce Tasmania’s first premium vintage sparkling wine. Since 1997 the winery has been in family hands and owned by the Hill-Smith’s, who have raised the game here, as well as the profile of Tasmanian sparklers, making Jansz one of the highest regarded Champagne style sparkling wine houses in the world and an Australian treasure. The Jansz Tasmania vineyard, under the guidance of two talented women, cellar master Teresa Heuzenroeder who overseas the winemaking and Jennifer Doyle viticulturist who cares for and farms the vines, sits to the northeast of the island state within the Pipers River region of the Tamar Valley with the vines set on pure, red, free-draining basalt soils and in close proximity to Bass Strait, which gives cool sea breezes and keeps the temps moderate enough to allow the vines to survive the cold winters here. This Brut Rosé is quality stuff and a great value, this one to try and well worth searching out!
($25 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive