2017 Kreglinger Vintage Brut

It was way back in 1973 that Andrew Pirie first founded Pipers Brook Vineyard. Pirie, who wrote his PhD on ideal sites for cool climate viticulture, believed this area could make world-class wines, and in 1995, he released one of the Apple Isle's first sparklings. Pirie, with his eponymously named fizz, quickly put Tasmania on the global map for quality fizz. Indeed, his Pirie sparkling was even drunk by the late Queen Elizabeth II on at least two occasions.

Then, in 2001, Pirie sold his business to the Kreglinger organisation and eventually did his own thing. In turn, with figurehead Pirie out, the sparklings of Kreglinger didn't have that same cache.

Yet the wines kept getting better, albeit without the same fanfare. Indeed, just last year, the 2017 Kreglinger Sparkling Rosé was declared Best Sparkling Rosé at the 2023 Halliday Awards, and you don't have to go far to find glowing reviews across the range.

All of which brings us to the glorious 2017 Kreglinger Vintage Brut. Sourced from a single vineyard (the Hills Vineyard) not far from the Kreglinger winery in Pipers Brook, this is an ideal example of what the label can deliver. Fermented in barrel, with malolactic fermentation giving volume and richne(more...)