Mumm Champagne launches Tasmania-made fizz

Maison Mumm has launched Mumm Tasmania Brut Prestige, a collaboration between the house’s Chef de Caves and Australian sparkling expert Trina Smith.

Mumm Tasmania Brut Prestige is the latest expression to join the Champagne house’s Mumm Terroir series, which celebrates wine regions known for producing fantastic Pinot Noir.

Unsurprisingly, the expression is Pinot Noir-dominant, with grapes sourced from privately owned vineyards in Northern Tasmania and particularly the Pipers River area, where the quality of Pinot Noir is especially elite.

“I was thrilled to introduce Tasmania as the region to source grapes for our Terroir series and couldn’t wait to collaborate with Laurent Fresnet. There’s no better Australian region for sparkling wine,” said Trina Smith who partnered with Mumm on bringing the product to fruition.

Smith, who previously worked for Treasury Wine Estates and is now group white and sparkling winemaker for Pernod Ricard Winemakers Australia, attributes the unique character of the Tasmania Brut Prestige to a strong yet supple acidity. ‘This acidity is being widely recognised as a distinctly Tasmanian characteristic, and it defines the personality of this wine,’ she said.

Aged for a minimum of 20 months, Mumm Tasmania is a non-vintage wine, to ensure consistency from blend to blend.

After gentle pressing, the free-run juice underwent fermentation in stainless steel tanks. A long, slow secondary fermentation occurred in the bottle as per the traditional method style.

Cellar master Laurent Fresnet, who visited Australia in July to taste the base wines made by Smith, said: “Maison Mumm has been celebrating Pinot Noir from the terroir of Champagne since 1827. Partnering with Trina opened up knowledge of the terroir and producers to source the best grapes. With Mumm Tasmania, we are revealing a new expression of Pinot Noir, with the same quest for the utmost quality, and in line with Maison Mumm’s style.”

Mumm Tasmania Brut Prestige has been designed primarily for the Australian market, with only small quantities assigned for global export. It will retail in Australia for AU$40. It joins the Mumm Marlborough Brut Prestige and Mumm Marlborough Vintage Rosé in the maison’s Terroir series.

In September this year, Mumm launched the first Champagne designed for space travel, produced to survive a zero-gravity environment. Called Mumm Cordon Rouge Stellar, it takes the form of a foam to be inhaled though the mouth in order to combat the issue of bubbles refusing to rise to the top of the glass in zero-gravity conditions, which limits the aromas of the wine.

 

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