Long Lunching at Josef Chromy Winery

When my wife and I were planning this trip to Tasmania, we had read that the best place to start was in Hobart and work your way north.  We would fly in from Melbourne into Hobart, then end up in Launceston for the return trip.  We had it mapped out with all the hotels we'd stay at.  Then everything changed.  One travel tip I have when adventuring is to check the internet for any local festivals that are happening in the area you are going.  We did that many years ago when travelling to Savannah Georgia and found a really great beer fest.  While searching the web for Tasmania and some of the towns we were visiting I found there was a wine festival called Effervescence on the Joseph Chromy vineyards.  This was happening just outside of Launceston but was on dates where we were going to be in Hobart.  Upon reading more about this event, it really seemed quite popular with the locals.    We knew we had to reschedule the trip to be in Launceston for this festival.  So instead of going from Hobart north, we would now start in Launceston and go south.  It was well worth it.

The festival is nearly a week long series of events from grand tastings of wines and sparkly, to cheese pairings, oyster sampling and black tie dinners.  We saw an event termed a Long Lunch which would be held outdoors near the vineyards.  It sounded perfect.

We drove the short distance from our apartment to the winery.  It was only about fifteen minutes away.  There was quite a long line of people to get in.   Most were here for the tastings since there was only about 50 seats for the lunch.

The table was set just outside the vineyards.  It was a very windy day and they were afraid it would be challenging to have all the glassware in an unsheltered area.

As soon as we sat, the sparkingling wine started flowing.  Josef Chromy is well known for their sparkling wine which is made in Method de Champagne style, meaning that yeast is added to the bottle for final fermentation.  That is what produces the fine bubble.  They can't call it Champagne since it is not made in the Champagne region of France.

Then many amuse bouche were passed around.  This was a prawn on a whole grain cracker.  Very tasty!!

I even saw butter from the Launceston Bread and Butter shop!!

And Josef Chromy came to the lunch.  This was quite unexpected since he recently had a stroke.  Other then his slight speech issues, you would never know.  He was walking around talking to everyone. He is quite a legend in Tasmania - especially Launceston.  He came to Australia at the age of 20, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia after World War 2.  He only knew the meat business, but used that to eventually sell that and then turned to wine in the mid 1990's.    You can read much more about him on the Internet.   Everyone we met talked about how much me meant to them and the town.  A truly inspirational man.

Then the real food started coming!!   This was all served family style.  Here was a massive piece of salmon.  It came with fresh herbs including dill and a creamy white sauce.  It was cooked to medium rare which was perfect for me.  I loved this dish!!  

I was a little late to this picture of slice tenderloin  - but  that is a testament to how good it was!!   It really tasted of beef.  Cooked to perfect medium rare, served on pureed sweet potatoes and broccoli rabe,

 The produce in Tasmania has been so good.  This was a salad of mixed greens with a dressing that was similar to a greek dressing.    It also had nice chunks of fresh mozzarella. 

And to finish it off with some small desserts!!   A fudge brownie and a key lime tart.   I didn't care for the brownie but the key lime was very nice.

The vineyards are just amazing!!

This was our last night in Launceston as we were driving to Freycinet tomorrow.  We were so full from dinner we didn't want a full dinner.  It was just some more Strong and Bitey and some wine back at the apartment.  Tomorrow would be the two and a half hour drive to Freycinet.  We met some people at the Long Lunch who had some winery suggestions on our way down.  Did we stop at any?  Keep an eye out for that next blog where you'll find out.