Roadkill: you see it everywhere on the small island of Tasmania. (68,000 square kilometres, 470,000 population, and falling). Pancaked possums, stinking paddymelons (looks like a cross between a small kangaroo and a fat wombat), squashed Tasmanian devils, steam-rollered thylacines* (only joking) and wafer-thin wallabies. Made one view the specials menu at highway restaurants with great suspicion.

(*Thylacine=extinct Tasmanian Tiger)

Why so many mangled marsupials? Well the first thing the tourist notices after roadkill is convoys of logging trucks carrying large hunks of Tasmanian forests destined for woodchipping and paper manufacture.

It's a vicious circle. The loggers strip the bush, the fauna flee the clearfelled forests, the logging trucks flatten the animal refugees. Yes, a fraction of the devastated bush is replanted, with pine trees and Tasmanian Blue Gums, but clearly it won't ever be the same.

Oh, and a number of replantings include grapevines. Which is where the wine column bit starts.

By Australian mainland standards most Tasmanian vineyards would have to be classified as "boutique",  i.e. small. And to the impecunious visitor many of the wine prices are very much boutique,  i.e. Scandalously high.

Certain Tasmanian vignerons will tell you, straight-faced, no hint of a smirk, leaning on the bonnet of the new 4x4 Mercedes, that the cellar door price of their unique, exclusive, rare and wondrous, cool climate and hand-picked pinot noir, is a mere $40 - a bottle.

Just before fainting you call for a double brandy (only 20 bucks a bottle) and realise that there is at least one indirect health benefit resulting from these prices: nobody has ever been known to get boozed on Tasmanian pinot.

Spit for the breathalyser

Last weekend I travelled with a bunch of holidaying Gold Coasters to see the wineries of northern Victoria. On Sunday morning we tried the fortifieds of Campbells Wines, and the reds and whites of St Leonards and All Saints. A tasting at Chambers Rosewood Winery followed lunch at St Leonards and then we headed south in the 12-seater mini-bus, via Seymour to the Yarra Valley - with me in the driving seat.

Just out of Seymour I spotted the Breathalyser Squad blocking the road and shouted "Shut the (insert appropriate swear word here) up!" at the boisterous passengers. A constable then asked me to blow into a little tube. "Drive on," he said, quite sweetly. A polite patter of applause ensued.

I was relieved that on my first encounter with a breathalyser, in 23 years of professional drinking, I tested well under the .05 limit. But I'm glad the officer had not asked the usual "Have you been drinking today?" I'd have answered "Yes, but only 30 or 40 glasses." The trick? I'd reluctantly spat out every mouthful.

The wine highlights of the tour, as voted by the visitors, were the All Saints Shiraz 1998 ($17.70) and the All Saints Carlyle Shiraz 1998 ($34) - both wines exhibiting rich softness and bags of stunning ripe fruit. Web: All Saints.

Memorable Bubbly

Christian ("fizziness is my bizziness") Pol-Roger hosted lunch late March at Melbourne's Allegro restaurant.

To start, we tried the Pol Roger Brut NV - one-third chardonnay, one-third pinot noir and one-third pinot meunier - appley and creamy in the mouth.

Then the ripe and soft Blanc De Blancs Chardonnay 1993, and the Brut Vintage 93: 60% pinot noir 40% chardonnay: pale yellow, zesty full palate, crisp finish.

Next was the Brut '89: dry, youthful and harmonious; then the Brut 1973: tiniest bubbles imaginable, delicate and dry, with an aroma redolent of white truffle oil.

Last in this bracket was the Brut 1921 - 80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay. Christian told us that 1921 was a vintage noted for its difficult conditions: a -9C frost ranging to a high of 25C in April, to 37C in July. Average yield was only 1.8 tonnes per hectare. At 80 years of age this was an extraordinary and memorable wine - ranking among the best I have ever tasted. Pale gold, restrained bead, not a hint of oxidation. The nose perfumed with a hint of flowers and faint oak. The palate sweet, rich and creamy.

Quite delicious which, if tasted blind, could easily be mistaken for a wine one quarter of its age. (The three wines were disgorged six weeks previous to the lunch).

We then tried the Pol Roger's prestige label, the Cuvée Winston Churchill 1990 - a powerful, youthful and vigorous wine, made predominantly from pinot noir.

Lastly came coffee and the Rosé 1993: salmon/onion skin hue. Aromatic and floral with a scent of strawberries - quite dry in the mouth and slightly astringent; 70% pinot noir, 30% chardonnay - 15% of the pinot from Bouzy.

The hospitable Christian Pol-Roger left us with his opinion of the still wines of Champagne: "Frenetically boring!"