Tasmania Unbottled is here!

It is pretty exciting for Gryphonwood to finally be working more on the mainland!

As part of our efforts, we are attending Wine Tasmania's premier event - Tasmania Unbottled 2013! 

This came together fast and furiously in the past couple of weeks, and unfortunately it meant we were not able to make it to Brisbane this year...but we will make up for that next time around!

 We will be in both Sydney and Brisbane however! We would love to catch up with you and say hi, so check out the details below. The events and dinners surrounding the main tastings look awesome, so we will be definitely fully involved next year!

See you there!!!

Sampling wines on the Spirit of Tasmania

The gang at Spirit of Tasmania have put together a fantastic event called the Flavours of Tassie!

Photo care of Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spirit_of_Tasmania_I_21Feb08.JPG

It is a brilliant effort on their behalf, allowing Tasmanian producers to meet travellers on their way to and from Tasmania. 

We sailed from Tassie on the night of 29th May, and came back down on the night of the 31st. The crews of both ships made us most welcome, helping me set up in the rear lounge and bar area.

We will be back on the ship heading to Melbourne on the 26th of June and back down to Devonport on the 1st of July sailing. If you are on the ship at the same time, make sure you come and say hi!

Festivale Round-up - we have our winners!

Well Festivale is all over, and we still trying to catch up on sleep!

However, our two promotions have their winners!

Our new Twitter follower Tundra Howe has come up as the winner of our Riesling promotion!

At Festivale, Clare Smith bought a lucky bottle of wine that has won her a set of Plumm Red or White Glasses!

Congrats to you both, Ladies! We will be in touch soon!

Festivale 2013 is here!!! And Harvest has its FIRST birthday!

It's back!
Launceston's Festivale 2013 has arrived, and it is celebrating its 25th birthday!

Not only that, Harvest is Turning ONE!

This is also the official launch of our 2012 One Bunch Riesling!

To make the most of the event, we have put up some promotions to brighten everyone's day!

Every bottle of wine sold at Festivale or Harvest Market on Saturday will earn a ticket into a draw to win a 4-pack of Plumm Red or White glasses!

Every new Like we get on Facebook, and new follower on Twitter from the weekend will go in the draw for a bottle of 2012 Riesling! Of course, all our current buddies and followers are already in the draw!

On top of that, our 2010 Pinot noir and 2011 Chardonnay will both be available at 25% off through our website until the end of March!

We are at both Festivale (stall 23), and Harvest (our usual corner), so come and say hi to us!

We're In! Festivale 2013

Gryphonwood is going back to Launceston's Festivale in Feb 2013!
We will have five wines to share! Check out some of our pics from 2012 to see the sort of fun to expect, and we'll see you there!

Tasmanian Red Wine Weekend

In Hobart this weekend, on the 26th & 27th of May, is the Tasmanian Red Wine Weekend; put on by Wine South. This event is being held as part of Savour Tasmania - a celebration of Tasmanian Food & Wine.

Our One Bunch Pinot Trio will be present at the Red Wine Weekend, and we are happy to see our 2011 selected to be served at the Feast of Chefs Dinner on Saturday night! This dinner for 400 people has sold out!!




If you are going, let us know how the weekend goes, especially the Feast of Chefs Dinner!!

Last of the Festivale wine

With Festivale done, it's time to take stock of the wines we presented there.

2009 Pinot Noir is down to its last handful of cases. We will put this one away to allow age development and for use in some planned guided tastings and food matching events.

2010 Pinot Noir is plentiful and going strong! Still youthful, but developing nicely with being allowed to breathe, this wine has fruit like the 2009, but also Pinot's amazing funky/earthy characters. Comments such as savoury, mushroom and forest floor were tossed about by the crowd. It is youth still, but has a lot more going on than the 2009 did.

2011 Chardonnay - wild yeast batch. We had a small batch of chardonnay that came to Festivale with us as a bit of a one off. Its mild oak, savoury and leesy characters were nicely balanced by fresh citrus. This was a hit with people who don't normally enjoy a chardonnay. I have only 3 cases of this wine left.

Very soon, our standard 2011 Chardonnay will be available. It is a close cousin to the above wine, so stay tuned for further news of it!

cheers!

Festivale 2012

Festivale is done for 2012, and what an experience!

A combination of rain, bright sunshine, big crowds, Daryl Braithwaite, big fat Slim Chefs and a glowing technicolour Polar Bear made for a memorable weekend of fun, wine and good food.

Gryphonwood's first public outing was an eye opener, with a lot of people coming to see us as the new kids on the block. It was a surprise to be announced runners-up for Best New Stall!

I have to offer a big thanks to the many people who helped us get there - you are too many to list, but are remembered nonetheless.

The wines were well received, and our Wine Matched Sampler Platter was a hit. The local produce was stunning.

Check out our website for more pics. In the meantime, have a technicolour Polar Bear!

Festivale 2012

Gryphonwood is going to Launceston's Festivale in 2012!

Festivale is the Tasmanian north's premier Wine and food festivale, and will see tens of thousands of festival goers enjoy the local food, drinks and entertainment, all set in the stunning Launceston City Park.

Stay tuned for more info!

Pinot Unearthed's Sydney dinner a great success!

The guys at Pinot Unearthed hosted their Tassie Pinot Dinner at Fix St James in Sydney this week, and by all accounts so far it was a booming success! The wines were a hit.

OBP2009 tasted well - I heard this from a new and unusual source (for me): tweets!
One of the night's commentators had a tweet link that I thought I would follow (like a trail of bread crumbs). Little did I know that a group of diners at the event were tweeting their way through each wine!

There was a whole sublayer of conversation going on under the table and in peoples' laps...
had I been there, I am sure I would have been shaking my head at these people playing with phones in the middle of a dinner function, despite the fact they were actually saying nice things about our wine!

The irony, eh?

Pinot Unearthed's Tassie Dinner write up #1

We are extremely excited here at the vineyard to hear that our OBP2009 was well received at the Melbourne dinner hosted by the team at Pinot Unearthed! Their review of the evening has been posted on their blog.

Due to the state of my shoulder I was unable to travel up to Melbourne for the evening. I have to admit that I am more than a little disappointed about this, especially after reading about the menu Pure South matched to the wines. Mouthwateringly good!

The Peppermint Bay Cruise dinner is coming up early next month (April 7th), and Gryphonwood's OBP2009 will again be featured. This will be superb, as the dinner will be enjoyed on a cruise from Hobart aboard the Peppermint Bay II! Tickets are available here!

It doesn't end there...a third dinner has been announced for Sydney! This time, the event will be at  Fix St James. Gryphonwood is happy to have our wine included - check here for details of the dinner and ticket info.

Cheers!

A Pleasant Surprise!

I mentioned the other day One Bunch Pinot received a good review from the Pinot unearthed team: 

One Bunch Pinot Noir, 2009

Region:

Tasmania Pipers River & North East

Date Tasted:10/12/2010

Drink until: 2014

RATING:

16.25

Ben Edwards:17.5 Bright colour; quite a hi-toned bouquet, showing vibrant almost sour cherry aromas; the palate is also crunchy and driven by acid and chewy tannins, drawing out the finish to a quite savoury and minerally conclusion; long and with latent power taking time to unravel.

Chris Crawford:15.5 Medium to dark purple, good clarity; brightly scented macerated plums with subtle herbal undertones; simple crunchy red fruits add to its compact core; the tannins are a little course leaving a hard, grainy finish; medium length; plenty of appeal.

Dan Sims:15.5 Mid red in colour; dark macerated strawberry, wild raspberry fruit aromas and perhaps lacking a little concentration and fruit weight to back up the grippy tannic structure that surrounds the wine; whilst in that lighter bodied style, it has some charming qualities, though lacks that extra dimension.

Quoted from Pinot Unearthed 2009 TASMANIAN PINOT NOIR COMPLETE

   FEBRUARY 15TH 2011, ISSUE NUMBER 4, available as a download from their site.

All in all, a favourable result - one we are happy with...as a starting point!

However, we were most pleasantly surprised to be invited by Pinot Unearthed to participate in their Pure Tassie Pinot dinners, to be held at Pure South Restaurant in South Bank, Melbourne, and the stunning Peppermint Bay, south of Hobart. Both events will be held in March (the 9th in Melbourne; the 31st at Peppermint Bay).

The aim for these dinners is to showcase the variety and styles of Tassie Pinot. Of all the wines tasted, we are chuffed to be one of the twelve selected!

Tickets are available here. Hope we see you there!