Jansz Tasmania: The Long Way Round - Teresa Heuzenroeder on Time, Terroir and her Approach to Sparkling Wine.
- 23 hours ago
- 7 min read
There is something quietly subversive about making sparkling wine properly. In a culture that treats immediacy as a virtue, traditional-method sparkling insists on the opposite: Grapes ripen slowly, wine ferments twice, yeast performs its patient, almost alchemical work, and bottles spend years in the dark before anyone gets to declare them finished. Jansz Tasmania seems perfectly content with the arrangement.
Perhaps because Tasmania has never been particularly interested in behaving like the mainland.
The Jansz Tasmania Late Disgorged Vintage Cuvée 2017 makes the most compelling case for patience. After more than seven years on lees, it has acquired an almost architectural complexity: Oyster shell, truffle, toasted brioche and roasted hazelnut, with preserved citrus and a cool, saline acidity running through it like a taut wire. It is mature without becoming languid, savoury without losing its brightness. Rather than simply tasting older, it seems to have accumulated another dimension.
The Jansz Tasmania Premium Cuvée NV is its more convivial counterpart. Citrus, honeysuckle and strawberry give way to nougat and subtle roasted-nut notes, while a fine mousse and brisk acidity keep the wine poised. It has the polish of an occasion without the accompanying theatricality - a bottle that understands celebration needn't make a speech.
The Jansz Tasmania Premium Rosé NV takes a more flirtatious route. Rose petal and Turkish delight mingle with wild strawberry and redcurrant, followed by a creamy palate and discreet savoury grip. Its prettiness is immediate; its structure reveals itself more slowly. Silk, rather than satin.
Together, the wines reveal something more interesting than a house style. They articulate a Jansz sensibility: Elegance without fragility, restraint without austerity, freshness with substance.
Chardonnay provides much of the house's structural and aromatic architecture, while Tasmania supplies an acidity that is saline, mouth-watering and remarkably persistent. Then there is the recurring impression of oyster shell - a mineral, maritime suggestion that seems less like a tasting note than a fragment of coastline somehow carried into the glass.
Tasmania itself resists the convenient shorthand of “cool-climate”. One GI encompasses a remarkably varied island, with distinct geological and climatic conditions across its viticultural zones.
Soil, aspect and climate can shift over relatively short distances, giving the island's sparkling wines a diversity that is only beginning to receive the attention it deserves.
That makes the comparison with Champagne rather less interesting than it first appears.
Champagne has had centuries to construct its mythology; Tasmania is still discovering its own. The ambition needn't be to reproduce Reims beneath a different latitude, but to discover what traditional-method sparkling sounds like when the landscape has another accent.
Teresa Heuzenroeder, Jansz's Senior Sparkling Winemaker, approaches that proposition with something more useful than a formula: Curiosity.
Parcels are kept separate; blends are assembled according to the character of each vintage; lees ageing is judged by evolution rather than a stopwatch. Even dosage is treated as calibration rather than correction.
There is an echo here of ma, the Japanese notion of meaningful interval, i.e. the space between things in which something else can emerge. In sparkling wine, that interval is literal. Fruit, yeast, oak, acid and time are left to negotiate their own arrangement. The winemaker's craft lies not only in knowing what to change, but in recognising when intervention would be the lesser form of intelligence.
Which brings us to the more interesting questions. How does a winemaker know when time has done enough? When does Chardonnay provide structure rather than dominance? How does a sense of place find its way into a wine without becoming a marketing metaphor? And can a blind tasting really reveal where a wine comes from?
These are questions no tasting note can adequately answer.
So we put them to Heuzenroeder.
What follows is a conversation about Tasmania beyond the usual cool-climate shorthand; about the serendipity of blending, the increasingly fine art of dosage, the strange intimacy between sea and acidity, and the decisions that happen between vineyard and bottle but rarely make it onto the label.
Because perhaps Jansz's most compelling signature is not a particular flavour at all. It is the conviction that some things become more interesting when you stop trying to hurry them.
Jansz is often discussed in relation to Tasmania’s ideal conditions for traditional-method sparkling wine. What do you think is most misunderstood about Tasmania’s terroir, particularly when it is compared with Champagne?
Teresa Heuzenroeder: In contrast to most mainland Australian wine regions, Tasmania is classified as a single GI. While there are currently no officially recognised subregions, the island is generally regarded as comprising seven distinct viticultural zones across the north and south, predominantly along the eastern side.
Each zone has its own geological and climatic characteristics, and soil profiles can vary considerably over relatively short distances. These differences have a significant influence on wine style, affecting palate structure, texture and aromatic profile.
Although these distinctions are quite pronounced, all wines produced within the state are labelled under the single Tasmania GI.
Jansz has developed a reputation for elegance and restraint. What does “house style” actually mean when you are making the wine, and how do you maintain consistency without sanding away the personality of a vintage?
Teresa Heuzenroeder: House style encompasses many factors that are unique to each producer. At Jansz Tasmania, ours has evolved around Chardonnay as the leading variety. It provides the framework, structure and aromatic profile we are seeking, bringing elegance and restraint alongside powerful acid drive.
Our Vintage Cuvée is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, estate-grown exclusively from our original vineyard at Pipers River. Each block and variety is vinified separately and retained as an individual component until the final assemblage towards the end of the year.
Every parcel is assessed for its contribution to the vintage, so the final blend varies. In some vintages it may be around 52% Chardonnay and 48% Pinot Noir; in others, perhaps 75% Chardonnay and 25% Pinot Noir. There is no predetermined percentage beyond Chardonnay remaining dominant. The objective is to reflect both our house style and the character of the vintage.
It continues to surprise me which parcels are ultimately selected. Often they are the ones you least expect, which is a wonderful reminder of the synergy that blending can create.
Reserve wines are one of the quieter tools available to a sparkling winemaker. How do you use them to give the non-vintage cuvée continuity without making it feel formulaic?
Teresa Heuzenroeder: Our Non-Vintage Cuvée draws fruit from a range of Tasmanian subregions across the north and south of the island. The final blend incorporates several vintages, with the wines spending an average of 18 months on lees. Together, those elements help maintain consistency from year to year.
Our non-vintage style sits towards the youthful, fruit-driven end of the sparkling spectrum. Freshness, purity and vibrant acidity are the key attributes we aim to preserve.
Each year, a small proportion is fermented and matured in older oak to add palate depth and texture. The intention isn't to introduce obvious oak character, but to build complexity while retaining the freshness and energy that define the wine.
Lees ageing is where sparkling wine begins to acquire some of its more intriguing secondary characters. What tells you that a wine is ready - and when does patience become too much of a good thing?
Teresa Heuzenroeder: It depends very much on the style of the cuvée. Our Non-Vintage Cuvées are generally released after around 18 months on lees. At that point, we are looking for a balance between freshness and the early development of autolytic complexity - subtle brioche and nougat, together with a fine, creamy texture.
Our Vintage Cuvées spend considerably longer, generally between 40 and 60 months, depending on the style. Extended lees ageing brings greater savoury character and aromatic complexity, with oyster shell, brioche and roasted nuts becoming more pronounced. The palate develops greater richness, texture and persistence.
The Late Disgorged Cuvée represents our most complex autolytic expression. In most years, we hold back a small volume of the Vintage Cuvée for extended maturation, usually a minimum of 84 months. The result is distinctly savoury, with toast, truffle and oyster shell alongside remarkable depth and palate weight.
Despite that maturity, it retains vibrancy because of the powerful natural acidity that is such a hallmark of Jansz and Tasmanian sparkling wine.
Dosage is often treated as a technical footnote, although it can quietly determine the final shape of a wine. How do you approach that decision?
Teresa Heuzenroeder: Before each disgorgement, we formulate the liqueur and trial different dosage levels to find the appropriate balance.
The decision depends on the wine style, vintage, varietal composition and how the wine has evolved through secondary fermentation and lees ageing. Dosage is the final stage in refining the relationship between sweetness, acidity and overall palate harmony.
Our approach has changed considerably over the past two decades. Residual sugar levels in our vintage wines are now approximately half what they were in releases from the early 2000s.
Whether that reflects changing consumer preferences, climate, increasing vineyard maturity or a combination of factors is difficult to say. There has certainly been a broader movement towards drier sparkling styles, but our philosophy remains centred on balance rather than pursuing a particular dosage level.
The question is always: What does this wine need?
Tasmania is increasingly part of the international conversation around cool-climate sparkling wine. Where do you see Jansz within that conversation alongside Champagne and England?
Teresa Heuzenroeder: It is encouraging to see Tasmanian sparkling receiving greater recognition internationally. As our vineyards have matured and our understanding of site selection and sparkling production has developed, the quality and diversity of Tasmanian wines have become increasingly apparent.
I am less interested in deciding which region is “better”. Champagne, England and Tasmania each have their own terroir, history and identity. What interests me is understanding and celebrating those differences.
As a winemaker, exploring and expressing those differences is one of the most rewarding parts of what we do.
If someone tasted Jansz blind beside a Champagne of a similar style, what would you hope might give it away?
Teresa Heuzenroeder: I think one of the key hallmarks of Jansz Tasmania is an oyster-shell character that appears both aromatically and in the texture of the palate. It is a descriptor we often use, particularly with our Chardonnay.
Whether that comes directly from maritime influence or is another expression of our terroir is difficult to say, but it captures the savoury, textural qualities of the wines.
The acidity is also distinctive. I often describe it as saline, mouth-watering acidity that gives the wines energy and persistence. It differs from the chalky minerality more commonly associated with Champagne and, for me, highlights the individuality of Tasmanian sparkling.
Many of Tasmania's vineyards are never far from the sea. Combined with the diversity of our soils, that maritime influence contributes to an interplay of texture, acidity and freshness that I believe defines Jansz - and Tasmanian sparkling more broadly.
---
Words and questions by AW.
Answers courtesy of Teresa Heuzenroeder.
Photo courtesy of Jansz.
