The largest planting of the quirky Marsanne grape variety can be found in southern Australia, in Victoria. And yet when we think of Marsanne, we always immediately think of France's Rhone Valley. This great planting deserves a place in the WINELIFE box!
Tahbilk
Founded in 1860, Tahbilk is the oldest 100 per cent family-owned winery in Victoria. Purchased by Reginald Purbrick in 1925, it is now owned by the fourth and fifth generations of Purbricks: Alister, Reginald's great-grandson, and Alister's daughter Hayley. She leads the winery with a sustainable vision, ensuring that this iconic Australian wine company is future-proofed. Tahbilk's wines are terroir wines, reflecting their particular provenance: the vineyards are located in the Nagambie Lakes sub-region in Central Victoria, about 140 kilometres north of Melbourne. In this wine region, the mesoclimate is strongly influenced by the proximity of a large mass of freshwater, and it has a unique soil of red and sandy loam with a high iron oxide content. The original inhabitants, the Taungurung, called this place tabilk tabilk, which means as much as 'place of many pools of water'. This is a perfect description for the landscape with many lakes and the Goulburn River, and the name Tahbilk is also derived from this. Tahbilk's vineyard area comprises 200 hectares, including some very old vineyards such as parcels of cabernet sauvignon dating back to 1949, marsanne to 1927 and even some shiraz parcels dating back to 1860, before the Phylloxera.
Marsanne
Marsanne is certainly not among the most widely planted grape varieties in the world and has its origins in the northern Rhône Valley, on and around the famous Hermitage hill. Tahbilk's involvement with this grape variety dates back to 1860 when some cuttings were acquired in the St Huberts vineyard in Victoria's Yarra Valley. These later turned out to be Marsanne and although nothing of these original vines remains, the winery does have the world's largest contiguous planting of Marsanne - including plots dating back to 1927, making it among the oldest Marsanne plantings in the world.
This exciting glass is like taking a bite of candied lemon, with crisp flakes of coarse sea salt. The fresh tang of verbena completes the game. An awful lot of wine in such a sparkling setting. A Marsanne that can handle almost any situation!
Flavour description
It is like the topping of a lemon cake, with the surprise of pineapple and the invigoration of eucalyptus. This wine keeps surprising you in the scent. It is an energetic mineral wine, with a wonderful texture of Lemon curd. Slowly, the wine becomes lays exotic where it finds the juiciness of the texture. With the fine bitters of orange peel, the wine has a surprising final shot!
Application
This wine gives itself completely and directly. As such, you don't need a decanter or difficult glassware for this. It is a variety with a lot of presence and energy, and it comes into its own in almost any situation. We do recommend serving either well fresh on a summer day, and when the sun goes down the wine may start to show a bit more richness in a large glass. It is not a wine that will be happy to spend another five years in the cellar. It is a wine in its prime in its youth, and this is also how we should enjoy it. The joy of youth.
Wine and food
This Marsanne pairs incredibly well with oriental food. It is particularly fond of Thai cuisine. But it also goes well with vegetarian dishes with flavours like pumpkin root or sweet peppers. And think of something exciting like white asparagus with salmon and ginger, that with this Marsanne is absolutely Rock & Roll.
Contact
If you want more of this wine, contact The Monk Beverages.
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