Jennifer Doyle is the winemaker at Jansz in Tasmania, Australia, where she uses the beauty of the island's rugged, remote landscape to create elegant and intense sparkling wines, made by what Jansz calls Méthode Tasmanoise.
We spoke with Jen for our Women Winemakers Q&A series about how Tasmania's wildness shapes her wines, what sets Méthode Tasmanoise apart from Champagne, and her can't-fail food and wine pairing.
Tasmania and Méthode Tasmanoise
Tasmania is filled with awesome wilderness - Does that wildness make its way into the wines you produce?
It cannot be avoided! Our grapevines are very much a part of the environment in which they grow. The icy chill off Antarctica and the wild winds of Bass Strait drive pure, crisp acidity in our sparkling wines. These elements are tempered by the bodies of water that sustain them to create a long, cool ripening season, perfect for achieving natural balance. Wild, indigenous yeasts facilitate fermentation - further thumb printing the distinctive expression and nuance of this place.
How would you describe Méthode Tasmanoise to someone who hasn't experienced your wines yet? Are there any noticeable characteristics that set it apart from Champagne?
Méthode Tasmanoise is an all-encompassing term that expresses not only the way in which our wines are made, but acknowledgement and celebration of every aspect influencing the 'Tasmanianous' of our sparkling wines. They are not, and cannot be likened to any other sparkling wines anywhere else in the world - this is the only place where this unique environ exists, this taste of Tasmania.
If you aren't sharing your own wine with someone, how do you pick a wine gift?
I would match the knowledge that I have of grape varieties and the regions in which they have proven to be most elegantly expressed. It would then come down to knowing and choosing an individual winemaker's style that most resonates with you (or the person for whom the wine is intended!).
If you weren't a winemaker, what would you be doing?
I might have pursued another of my loves - those creatures with which we share Planet Earth - through the fields of animal science and conservation.
