LOCATION
At the Home Hill Winery in the Huon Valley in Tasmania’s south.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIA
The Huon Valley has historically been Tasmania’s fruit bowl. More recently, it has become Australia’s most southerly wine region and has garnished more state, national and international wine show trophies and medals for its Pinot Noirs than any other region in the country. And in the past nine years consecutive vintages of Home Hill Pinot Noirs have accumulated a total of nine Australian show trophies and 12 gold medals, including the top trophies at such prestigious events as the 2007 Tri-Nations Challenge where it beat all comers from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
To enjoy the wines is one reason to dine at the Home Hill Winery Restaurant. Another is the magnificent glass and rammed earth winery/restaurant itself, set in the bucolic surrounds of vines, apple, pear and cherry orchards with wild ducks on the dam and sheep and geese grazing the paddocks. And then there’s chef Craig Scarfe’s food in seasonal menus drawing on the Huon’s culinary abundance – the superb Woodbridge smokehouse trout; rillettes of local pork, their richness offset by the sweet-sourness of preserved blackcurrants; slow-roasted chicken with herbs from the kitchen garden; potatoes roasted in goose fat and rosemary. It’s nothing eye-popping or cutting edge, simply beautifully prepared country fare in an idyllic country setting. Which is as life should be.
Graeme Phillips, January 2010