葡萄美酒伴花香——塔斯馬尼亞的愜意之旅

You know it’s time to go home when you can’t face eating or drinking anymore.

I reached that stage by the end of my visit to the northeast corner of Australia’s most southern state after being 1）wined and dined in style.

As the Tasmanians say， you can wine your way around this island. Its 2）burgeoning wine sector has seven distinct growing areas with many growers providing 3）cellar door tastings， and there’s an abundance of fresh local food on offer from producers and at farmers markets.

I based myself in Launceston， where the South and North Esk rivers meet to form the wider Tamar River. Like Wellington and Auckland， Launceston has more than a light-hearted 4）rivalry going on with the state’s biggest city， Hobart， to the south.

My plan was to do the Tamar Valley wine route and cherry-pick parts of the Cradle to Coast Tasting Trail.

The Tamar Valley is Tasmania’s largest wine-producing area， best known for cool-climate wines such as sparkling， 5）aromatic whites and 6）pinot noir.

The well-marked route 7）encompasses both sides of the Tamar River and south of Launceston. While the 442 metre-long Batman Bridge spanning the Tamar to the north means you can do a round trip， you really need more than one day to do the route justice.

Our first wine-tasting on the northeast side was at Jansz Tasmania， the only Tasmanian specialist solely devoted to sparkling winemaking.

Wine writers will laugh at my discomfort with spitting instead of sipping during a tasting， but it seems such a waste of good wine to see it dribbling down the 8）spittoons. Be aware， you can get lighthearted early in the day if you don’t. It wasn’t unpleasant.

Eating or drinking lavender may seem odd to some， but the Bridestowe Lavender Estate at Nabowla offers more than just a 9）vista of sweeping fields of purple flowers. It is one of the world’s largest commercial lavender farms， and the high quality flowers are primarily used as oil for perfumery.

It took its Sydney-based owners Robert Ravens and his wife， Jennifer， a few years to turn around the loss-making estate through a relentless marketing strategy focused on Asia. Its renowned lavender heat pack bears—sold for A$55 each—have proved a big hit with Asian tourists since a Chinese pop star 10）proclaimed her love for them on social media.

The business is based around more than just one bear—there’s a huge range of lavender products on offer in the shop and cafe. I had refreshing lavender tea but didn’t buy a bear （apparently 11）Kiwis and Tasmanians never do）.

While in the area we headed to the hills to meet the kids—some 200 or so goats at the Yondover Farmhouse Cheesery at Tunnel. It was established four years ago by former West Australians Mike and Gina Butler who sell 14 different cheeses， fresh milk and plain yoghurt. We sampled a selection of their award-winning cheeses out on the deck with a view over the rolling valleys below.

On the west side of Tamar， the first winery we visited also turned out to be my favourite that day—Moores Hill at Sidmouth. This family-owned boutique winery specialises in estate grown single vineyard wines and co-owner Fiona Weller was 12）cock-a-hoop the day of our tasting as their 2012 pinot noir had just won gold at the 2014 Tasmanian Wine Show. I again drank instead of spat， despite the early hour.

The Cradle to Coast Tasting Trail is a relatively new tasting route based more on food than wine.

From the 13）plethora of food and wine producers to visit on this trail we opted for The Honey Farm in Chudleigh. It makes over 50 different kinds of honey and the shop was packed with Asian tourists spending up large. I bought a jar without realising you can’t bring Tasmanian honey back to New Zealand. The shop has free tastings of all its honey and other products—my pick was the hazelnut honey 14）nougat.

Try timing a trip to Launceston to coincide with Harvest Launceston， a weekly farmers’ market selling food and 15）beverages grown and produced only in Tasmania. Just 18 months old， it’s already proving a roaring success.

When we 16）snaffled the last space in the adjoining car park， a local offered us his parking ticket which had a fair amount of time left on it. That’s community for you.

It’s easy to overeat at this market. There’s everything from berries to burgers to beetroot to beef.

As we leave， musicians started tuning up， and a number of regulars were happily 17）ensconced in seats under a 18）marquee in the centre of the market， cups of freshroasted coffee in hand and food purchases at their feet.

Like most places， if you want to know where to eat and drink， follow the locals.

佳肴美酒當前已然無法消受，當你吃撐到那樣的地步，你就知道自己該回家了。

在澳大利亞最南部州東北角的旅程快結(jié)束時，一番別具特色的盛情款待后，我就達到如此境界了。

就像塔斯馬尼亞人所說的，你可以在這座島上一路喝過去。它那蓬勃發(fā)展的葡萄酒業(yè)涵蓋七大不同的種植區(qū)，許多種植者都打開窖門讓人品嘗，而且生產(chǎn)商和農(nóng)貿(mào)市場還提供了豐富的本地新鮮美食。

我以朗塞斯頓為基地，南北愛斯克河在此交匯成寬廣的塔馬河。就像新西蘭城市惠靈頓與奧克蘭的關系一樣，朗塞斯頓與坐落于南部的本州最大城市霍巴特之間的競爭之勢亦并非云淡風輕。

我的計劃就是踏遍塔馬谷的葡萄酒之路，直到搖籃山至海岸美食路線上的櫻桃摘采地。

塔馬谷是塔斯馬尼亞最大的葡萄酒產(chǎn)區(qū)，以盛產(chǎn)寒涼氣候葡萄酒而聞名于世，如氣泡酒、芳香白葡萄酒和黑皮諾葡萄酒。

這條標識清晰的路線兩側(cè)夾在塔馬河和南朗塞斯頓之間。442米長的巴特曼大橋從南到北橫跨塔馬河，也就意味著你可以沿著河走個來回，但要好好走完這段路只花一天時間是肯定不夠的。

我們在東北部品酒的第一站是在簡斯·塔斯馬尼亞酒莊——塔斯馬尼亞唯一專門致力于氣泡酒生產(chǎn)的釀酒專家。

評酒作家會嘲笑我在品酒時不愿吐出口中佳釀而是小口啜飲，但眼見著這樣的好酒流入痰盂感覺似乎真是一種浪費。小心點，如果不把酒吐出來的話，一大早你就會變得嬉皮笑臉的?！?br>