We do enjoy our annual Get Aways and this year Ray and Lou Foley organised a very special couple of days in Tasmania for us. If you want a great insight into the best of Tasmania in 48 hours, this would be a pretty good itinerary to consider.
Hobart - Henry Jones Hotel, Mona Art Gallery and ‘The Source’ Restaurant
We started in Hobart with accommodation and a welcome dinner at the Henry Jones Art Hotel. Please view the menu here.
Next morning we had only to drive 15 minutes to take a look at Tasmania’s newly opened and internationally acclaimed Mona Gallery which invariably exceeds expectations (this is a must do if you are visiting). We had lunch after the gallery tour at ‘The Source’, which is part of the same complex. This is also a must. You’ll find simple but elegant food with the freshest Tasmanian produce.
Bothwell – Derwent Valley, Nant Distillery
Aboard our bus, we then embarked on the 1 ½ hour drive north to Bothwell, a beautiful drive if you go via the Derwent Valley. Bothwell is the home to a very special boutique whisky distillery, the Nant Distillery, which has been producing malt whisky for more than 100 years. The homestead also offers accommodation while the distillery also offers a small restaurant. Nearby, The Priory offers more boutique accommodation which we were grateful for given our numbers. Before dinner at Nant we were offered a tour of the distillery and a whisky tasting, and then more whisky at the end of our meal. Our dinner at Nant also included some simply outstanding wines, so you can imagine that some of us found it a little tricky waking early for a full country breakfast. Please view the menu here.
Back in Hobart – Garagistes
We travelled back to Hobart after breakfast, taking the highway rather than the scenic drive as we were very single minded about achieving our final goal – to try the newly opened restaurant ‘Garagistes’ which we had heard had taken Hobart by storm. Despite three sensational meals so far, this lunch was perhaps our ultimate dining experience. The creativity in the dishes produced by Garagistes is difficult to compare to any other restaurant in Australia, perhaps a little like Loam in Victoria. What a wonderful high to end our culinary adventure.
The Wines
Of course we also enjoyed some wonderful highlights with our wines. The bracket of the weekend, matched with a slow cooked saddle of Tasmanian lamb, was a pair of 2002 Grand Cru Burgundies - Gerard Raphet’s somewhat limited ‘Vieilles Vignes’ version of his Clos de Vougeot (our wine of the trip), and Mongeard Mugneret’s Grands-Echezeaux. 2002 certainly produced some lovely red Burgundies. The Raphet is still a baby but what a wine! Other standouts included Jean-Marc Pillot’s 2002 Les Caillerets from Puligny-Montrachet (not oxidised, hooray), Boillot’s 2008 Corton Charlemagne (08 still desperately young but so delicious), Joh Jos Prum’s 2004 Graacher Himmelriech Riesling Kabinett, and a pair of 03 Burgundies that for the large part appeared to defy the general stereotype of this warm vintage and provided reasonably complex and well-structured wines (Fourrier’s Griotte-Chambertin and Engel’s Clos Vougeot).
The predominance of Burgundies in our line-up is probably a comment on our group. However we also ventured to the Rhone Valley with a vertical of one of Pierre Usseglio’s premium Chateauneuf-du-Papes, the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Grenache based ‘Mon Aieul’. It was no contest. Still young but the 2005 was easily the strongest vintage. Just a bit tough coming after all those lovely Burgundies!