Nine family owned vineyards, Winepunters and the Make a Wish Foundation have teamed up to give punters the opportunity to try their hand at wine judging. The inaugural 'You be the Judge', to be held on Saturday 25th June, will allow 130 punters to try 9 of Tassie's best pinots including our 2009 Morningside Pinot.

Try - up to 9 of some of the best pinots that Tassie has to offer.
Judge - all of these pinots on their own, score them, and then try the final 4 again over lunch.
Buy - as with all Winepunters events you will have the opportunity to place an order. Not only will you be doing yourself a favour, and supporting the wineries who are involved, you will also be supporting Make A Wish as a percentage of commission from sales made will be donated to the cause.

Contact: michelle@winepunters.com

Morningside will be presenting their award winning Pinots at the Pinot Shop in Launceston, please come and join us.

For more information visit pinotshop.com.au

Brian and Heather Cook from Melbourne have been buying our wines for over a decade.

On Saturday 19 June they put on a vertical tasting of a decade of Morningside Pinot Noirs from 1999-2008 at their home for a large group of their wine loving friends and graciously invited Brenda and myself to attend as well.

Brian is a pinot lover and collector of fine wines. As well as having a most interesting career and the ability to tell marvelous stories about her life, Heather is a great cook and matched some beautiful food to the wines. Brian and Graham did a marvelous job opening and pouring the wines.

All the pinots were served in brackets of two accompanied by Heather's food and my notes below summarise the comments of the tasters.

2008 and 2007 Pinot Noir
Rabbit Terrine-Mushroom Pate

2008 (Diam)
Medium dark colour with purple tinges. Very floral nose with violets and trademark spice. Spicy with rich palate and good length. Good acid and very youthful ready for the long haul. Some compared it to a young Burgundy.

2007 (Diam)
Medium colour. Trademark spice, cherry and some charry oak on the nose. Cherry fruit on a very delicate, smooth and elegant palate. Very youthful and a bit reticent at this stage.

2006 and 2005 Pinot Noir
Duck in Lettuce Cups-Julienned Vegetable Wraps

2006 (Diam)
Very dark vibrant colour. Anise and trademark spice and some cherry on the nose. Dark cherry fruit with some candied orange peel on quite a big palate. Good length. Starting to open up and show itself.

2005 (Diam)
Medium dark colour. Gamey/meaty/earthy/funky nose with some spice and cherry. Lovely fruit. Very smooth and elegant. Silky with good persistence and length. Great food wine now but still has years to go.

2004 and 2003 Pinot Noir
Filo pastry wrapped lamb with cumin and coriander-Filo pastry wraps with pumpkin, feta cheese and pine nuts

2004 (Cork)
Light/medium colour. Raspberry/redcurranty on the nose. Raspberry and strawberry fruit, orange peel, lighter style but elegant with good length and lovely acid. Approaching its peak but lovely acid should take it further.

2003 (Cork)
Medium dark colour. Meaty/salami/bacon nose. Rich soft and smooth with grainy oak still evident. Probably at or close to its best.

2002 and 2001 Pinot Noir
Asparagus wrapped in proscuitto-Fillet of beef with anchovies on croutons

2002 (Cork)
Dark vibrant colour.Spicy/meaty on the nose with some orange peel notes. Intense cheery fruit with good length. Still very youthful.

2001 (Cork)
Very dark almost youthful colour. Candied orange and plum on the nose with a touch of spice. Silky with powerful plummy fruit and great length and power. Lots of potential still.

2000 and 1999 Pinot Noir
Beetroot stuffed with fried haloumi-Whole roasted quail stuffed with lemon, butter, thyme and rosemary

2000 (Cork)
Very dark. Plum and trademark spice on the nose. Rich plum and very smooth palate. Good drinking now.

1999 (Cork)
Medium dark. Trademark spice. Rich and very smooth with great length and power. Great now but has more potential.

Summary

So there you go. Heather's food matched the wines perfectly and it was a great tasting running from 2-6pm with plenty of time for enjoying the food/wine matches and for discussion. Fortunately none of the wines were corked and there were no duds amongst them.

At the end of the tasting discussion centered around:

• the similarities noticed in the wines (spice, anise, candied orange peel) and with age (meaty salami gamey characters);
• the excellent ageing potential;
• the fact that although the wines from excellent vintages (2008, 2005, 2000) all came through as expected there were surprises like the 2006, 2002, 2001 and 1999.