Deception realises a dream

Formerly a wing commander with the RAAF'S VIP Squadron and nowadays joint-owner of La Provence, Stuart Bryce's career change during the mid-70s came as no mere flight of fancy.

Rather, it came about with the conscious fabrication of a clever piece of deception. One that initially gained him entry into a Riverina College of Advanced Education course on viticulture, then ultimately the realisation of a dream.

"It took me three hours to write the story that convinced the college that I should be accepted," he recalls with a grin.

"It was a pack of lies.

"I said I had a 2ha vineyard in Tasmania, and I was developing it to commercial production. Naturally, it didn't exist. But I wouldn't have got into the course had I told the truth that I didn't have a vineyard, and wasn't already in the wine industry.

"The place I described was really La Provence... but I'd never seen La Provence," Bryce muses.

"Part-way through the course - in 1980 - I ended up buying the vineyard. By the time I'd finished my degree, everything I'd said was then true... I'd just told the story before it all happened."

Located at Lalla - near Lilydale, in the State's north-east - La Provence is Tasmania's longest established vineyard.

Nowadays a 3.2ha site, it incorporates the 1ha legacy of its original owner, French engineer and Tasmanian wine industry pioneer, Jean Miguet.

The vineyard was first planted in 1956, two years ahead of Claudio Alcorso's Moorilla Estate, just outside Hobart.

Miguet's legacy has given both joy and heartache.

"La Provence had no appeal for me at all when I first saw it," Bryce admits.

"The vineyard was a total disaster, absolutely run-down."

Gradual improvements and expansion during the past decade have seen the enterprise placed on a firm financial footing. Each vintage brings in small amounts of high quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, as well as the odd dollop of Riesling.

The use of the name La Provence oddly remains a bone of contention with French authorities. They see its use as an attempt to trade on that country's highly regarded international reputation.

Formal communications have been punctuated by threats of litigation.

"I'm very annoyed," says the vineyard owner.

"It's taken six months out of my life... we carried on with the name because it was the name that Miguet gave when he first planted it in 1956. I never saw any reason to change it."

Recently released from the property is the very smart 1993 La Provence Chardonnay ($23 cellar door). Totally barrel fermented and softened by 100 percent malolactic fermentation, it's a user-friendly wine, made in a fruit-driven mould that's redolent of melon and figs. The smooth texture makes it appealing now, but like all good La Provence Chardonnays, it should mature gracefully with time in the cellar.

"The fullness of the wine on the palate is a direct consequence of old vines," Bryce notes.

"Old vines produce higher alcohols. Other Tasmanian wines will be the same, too, in time. But it takes a while."

That sounds a legacy we consumers will all be able to accept.

First published 15 December 1994: The Advocate