Couldn’t think of a better word! Last week I entertained one of my colleagues with whom I trekked Shaggy Ridge and associated battlefields in the Finesterre Ranges of Papua New Guinea in 2010. The main course was a favourite of mine: Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon marinated and then poached in our own Verjuice. To go with that I opened a magnum of 2002 Providence “Miguet” Reserve Pinot Noir, vintage 2002. Yes, that’s right and not only is that wine still available it was nothing short of magnificent. For a long time I have been stating that we are drinking our Tasmanian cool climate Pinot Noir wines too young. If the wine (as made) has firm acid and good flavour then, providing the closure holds out disciplined buyers will be well rewarded. The wine and light oak treatment was fully integrated and reminded me of velvet with a touch of violets and some meaty character. The acid balance was perfect and the palate long in length. No, there’s not heaps of this wine left but it’s still on the online list. We only bottled this vintage in Magnums and, for a number of years it enjoyed being mentioned in James Halliday’s best of the best. I can only assume that James thinks it’s all gone! Providence tends to hang on to both the Chardonnays and the Pinots before releasing them. We also have a number of Gold Medal Pinots from other great Tasmanian producers in the 2008 and 2009 years. Currently, we are selling the 2009 “Miguet” Pinot Noir and will be releasing the 2012 “Miguet” Chardonnay in the next couple of weeks (as soon as we get the labels!).