Tasmania's tourist industry has grown, the island still has some of the world's most productive soils, respects its resources and has cultivated one of the finest, most surprising, fresh-food larders on the planet.
Périgord truffles, award-winning cheeses, Huon Valley saffron, leatherwood honey and olive oil - 100,000 olive trees have been planted on Tassie. Order a seafood platter and it will include wild abalone, lobsters, Atlantic salmon, sea trout, blue mussels, scallops, smoked eel, salmon caviar, sea urchin roe, octopus and squid. Its unpolluted Southern Ocean offers delicious catches of bluefin and yellow-fin tuna, blue eye (travalla), orange roughy, blue grenadier and pink ling, among others, while its farmed salmon is entirely free of impurities.
After Sydney, Hobart is Australia's second oldest city. My first impression was of a quaint settlement huddled round the harbour but down around the wharf district many of the timbered structures have been converted into boutique hotels, smart apartments, elegant sushi bars and restaurants. Tempting menus offered the likes of salmon fillets, steamed pink-eyed potatoes, chilli lime compôte and lemon myrtle butter sauce.
Off Tasmania's southern tip lies Bruny island. Captain Bligh landed there in 1792 and planted Tasmania's first vines and an apple tree at the edge of what is now South Bruny National Park. Today, Tasmania - Apple Isle - boasts a million apple trees producing 500 different varieties.
Close to that historic spot, I dined on fresh oysters shucked at the table, served with ginger and Japanese soya, followed by succulent, Flinders Island lamb. Up north, close to Stanley, I feasted on abalone and salmon legally fished from the sea two hours earlier.
In France, the black truffle grows symbiotically with the oak. In Tassie, the truffières are producing these black jewels beneath oaks and hazelnuts and world-leading chefs are eulogising them.
On a recent visit I fell into conversation with a red-whiskered chap who ran a harbourside marine chandlers in Hobart where metal-framed and wooden lobster pots were stacked high. I asked if he'd rather live on the mainland. "Rough as guts there," he grinned. "You'll see, mate, it's paradise here." How right he is.
Australia's cool climate wine
While Australia's very first vineyards are buried beneath Sydney, some gnarled vines of Australia's second oldest vineyard can be seen in the New Town area of Hobart. This was planted in 1823 by Bartholomew Broughton, a remarkable convict who eventually came to own a substantial amount of property.
Due to its cool climate, some local winemakers like to think of Tasmania as "the champagne of the Southern Hemisphere" but it offers some of Australia's finest Pinot Noirs; Rieslings with more finesse than anything grown outside Germany's Mosel; Sauvignon Blancs that are challenging New Zealand's best.
The best sparkling wine is generally agreed to be Arras, made by the giant BRL Hardy Group. In fact, some rate it as the best Australian fizz of all. Under the same ownership is Bay of Fires, which has a stunning blanc de blancs tucked away for special release in 2010. But the hot-tip fizz is the soft, elegant Jansz 2004 Rosé.
Jansz was established by a champagne house in the 1980s but now produces fine sparkling wines under Australian ownership (Yalumba). Tasmania's best red this year is the Burgundy-like Stoney Rise 2006 Pinot Noir, which won "Wine of Show" at The Tasmanian Wine Show 2008.
Other top performing Pinots, all 2005s, include Ese Vineyard, Velo and Bream Creek. If you are a Cabernet Sauvignon person, go for the remarkably ripe Bream Creek 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon.
The greatest dry Riesling is Holmoak 2005 Riesling but not far behind are Bay of Fires (both 2006 and 2005), Waterton Vineyards 2006 Riesling and The Wine Society 2007 Riesling. Those who enjoy a sweeter, but very classy Spätlese style will love Frogmore Creek FGR 2006 Riesling ("FGR" stands for "Forty Grams Residual").
Roslyn Estate 2007 Sauvignon Blanc would give most Marlborough wines a run for their money, while Campania Hills 2006 Unwooded Chardonnay demonstrates the potential of this verdant isle to produce a Chablis style.
Tom Stevenson
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Tasmanian Food and Wine
