Omakase at Clover Hill is an interesting pairing

Clover Hill Winery is located in North East Tasmania. A winery developing and delivering sparkling wine, it is a modern offering of a wide range of sparkling. As you walk in, it is clean, bright, modern, and visually pleasing. Somewhat sterile, but, due to its high dark ceilings, cosy and cocooning. This post is to share our wine tasting and pairing experience at Clover Hill Winery.

This was a very interesting wine & dining experience. Apart from the fact that it’s all sparkling wine, that is! Typically, this wouldn’t be something that would bother me, but after nine sparkling wines, it is challenging to differentiate the value of one over the other. This post is to share our experience at the Clover Hill winery for their multi-course dining experience.

We enjoyed this tasting along with an Omakase style meal presented by the chef at Clover Hill winery. At $79 for the meal plus the tasting price we had a relaxing afternoon.

Of the nine sparkling wines we tasted, two are available in the Bottle Shops here in Tasmania. The other seven we tasted are only available at the cellar door or through a cellar door membership.

Sparkling Tasting #1: Tasmania Exceptionnelle Multi-Vintage

To start our tasting, we began with the Tasmania Exceptionnelle this delicate, fine moose, sparkling, had aroma and pallet notes of lemon incurred with a medium plus finish dry high acidity lovely on the pallet medium plus finish a very nice way to start a meal.

Sparkling Tasting #2: Tasmania Rose Multi-Vintage

The next was the rosé this sparkling received it light tinge of salmon due to a dosage of Pinot at the end, which contributed some lovely fruit flavours of red apple, red strawberry and some red current. High acidity, dry, lacking somewhat in complexity. It still completed overall with a medium finish of a good sparkling. This rosé was complimented by a chicken pate with truffle, caramelized onions, and a sliver of radicchio.

Sparkling Tasting #3: Foudre Multi-Vintage

The next sparkling was the Foudre. The name of the sparkling is due to the oak container in which it is aged. These vats, typically used in France’s Rhone Valley, hold more than a 1000 litres of wine. Due to the large size of this french oak container it only lightly influences the sparkling contained within lending some toast and brioche notes from the lees. Dry, and toasty, this sparkling was good and had a lovely medium finish. This glass of sparkling was complimented by a dish of lightly poached salmon with a fennel kimchi, which was excellent. It was garnished with salmon roll.

Sparkling Tasting #4: Clover Hill Riche Multi-Vintage

Also complementing the salmon dish was a sparkling wine on offer called Riche MV. This sparkling wine had more persistent bubbles, lemon, apple and brioch notes, and a very good finish. A slightly orange citrus as opposed to the lemon citrus of the previous three sparkling wines. This sparkling had a medium finish.

Sparkling Tasting #5: Clover Hill Noir en Bois Multi-Vintage

The next dish in our meal was a Karage chicken with a miso mayonnaise. This was complimented by the Noir en Bois MV sparkling. This particular sparkling was 75% Pinot Noir so there was a bit more of an aggressive edge to it. It was not complimented by as much percentage of chardonnay. As such, the aromas were more berry in nature, with some lemon tartness and bitterness to it on the palate. Medium – complexity, and medium – finish on this sparkling.

Sparkling Tasting #6: Clover Hill Meunier et Noir Multi-Vintage

The final dish of our meal was a light cheese course. In this particular cheese course they took some brie and berry fruit (blackberries, raspberries) and melted the brie. They then sprinkled a Machi green tea powder over top. This was served with some seeded crackers. The sparkling wine Meunier et Noir was served with this course. This was a sparkling made only with Pinot Noir grapes. A more persistent mousse – almost call it aggressive. A little bit sharp and the taste seemed somewhat unbalanced. A medium – on its finish.

Sparkling Tasting #7: Clover Hill Blanc de Blancs Multi-Vintage

Also complementing this final cheese course was a Blanc de Blanc. Containing 100% Chardonnay, this is from 36 year-old vines. Lemon notes along with lemon zest, along with grape flavours for aroma and palate. It was dry, medium acidity and well balanced. A medium + complexity and a medium + finish. A very good wine based on the ratings. I’ve given it probably more a good, but it did have a bit more of that comprehensive sparkling wine profile to it that I like.

Sparkling Tasting #8: Clover Hill Rose D’Assemblage Multi-Vintage

To complete our tasting, we had the Rose D’Assemblage. This included aromas and palate of red currant, raspberry, strawberry, and some red plum. There was distinct time on lees – toast, brioche and some nutty hazelnut flavours. There was extra dosage added to this particular vintage. A very good sparkling. A medium + finish. Overall a great way to finish the lovely course of food and wine pairing.