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 My watch stops at 5.20pm and I think it's trying to tell me something.
We are sampling wine at Tamar Ridge's Kayena cellar door, nibbling Tasmanian cheese varieties and chatting about holidays.
Autumn sun screams through the window, illuminating a cabinet with international trophies for the vineyard's botrytis riesling.
Time probably could stand still this afternoon and none of our crew would complain.
Our day's tasting is finishing with this "sticky'' _ the 2007 Tamar Ridge Botrytis Riesling - and it's a sweet moment.
This is the final stop on Marcia Fawdry's half-day wine tour of the Tamar Valley.
Ms Fawdry has been the ideal tour guide; we've covered four vineyards and journeyed from Launceston to Kayena via Legana, France and Rosevears.
As we approach each vineyard, Ms Fawdry gives us a run-down on the owners and the history, priming the pump before the cellar door managers put their best sip forward.
The first point of contact is the pick-up. Ms Fawdry gathers her willing wine tourists in a mini-bus from points around Launceston. My wife Sallie and I meet English visitors Susan and David, Queenslanders Phillip and Richelle and Melburnian Sue.
Soon we are at Legana where Tour de France rider Micheal Wilson and wife Mary have named their vineyard after the French word for bicycle, Velo.
It's at this place of the bicycle that our wheel turns towards France. Mary Wilson talks us through chardonnays and the heritage of the unwooded Chablis-style they pursue.
International and interstate visitors are told about Tasmania's cool nights and encouraged to see a glass of wine as an experience.
We are already converts to the notion and set about experiencing pinot grigio, riesling and chardonnay, oaked and unoaked, before moving towards the reds. Micheal aims for a light pinot noir with a gentle pressing of grapes.
Mary nods towards the ceiling where earlier experimentation with heavier pressing left a splash on the ceiling. "We look for the velvet glove in our pinot. Sometimes you get the iron fist.''
Velo has made its reputation on a shiraz, not a meat-and-three-veg mainland style but a lighter taste in keeping with the Rhone Valley in southern France.
We return to the bus and Ms Fawdry tells me her Valleybrook Wine Tours have been running for six-and-a-half years. She emphasises her point of difference to other tours is that she includes a platter of biscuits, spreads and Tasmanian cheeses.
"That's why we chose your tour,'' English visitor Susan confirms.
Ms Fawdry's rapport with her cellar door confederates is as smooth as a Velo pinot noir. "I try to support the little guys,'' she says.
But now we are heading for one of the big guys. The Rosevears cellar door of Pipers Brook Vineyard and its second label, Ninth Island. Here Adnan Crees-Morris adds a splash of panache as he talks us through a substantial array of wines.
We start with a non-vintage bubbly, the Ninth Island Sparkling, and work our taste buds through multiple samples.
The cellar door is front of house for the restaurant, Daniel Alps at Strathlynn, and it's an impressive structure with marvellous views of the Tamar.
Impressive is also a good description for the cabernet-dominated Pipers Brook Estate 2004 Tamar and the mostly merlot Ninth Island 2005 Tamar.
They are both easy on the palate, but I pounce on the latter because I suspect it's easier on the wallet.
With more than 200 hectares under vine, Pipers Brook is the second-biggest operation in Tasmania. The biggest? We come to that later.
We pile into the bus; a chirpy bunch by now, ready for the drive to Holm Oak at Rowella.
This is where Pinot the pig holds court. Before we reach the cellar door Pinot has responded to Ms Fawdry's call and sits like an obedient dog for an apple.
The happy oinker has been glorified by his own label on a Pig & d'Pooch Moscato and Hog and d'Hound Muscat. Winemaker Rebecca Wilson offers some serious premium wines, with a 2008 pinot noir something of a favourite, but I'm looking forward to the moscato. Because of the pig.
We've sampled quite a lot of wine, really, when we reach Tasmania's biggest vineyard, Tamar Ridge at Kayena. Perhaps wise to this, Tamar Ridge's cellar door presents us with a printed sheet of wines and some tasting notes while we enjoy Ms Fawdry's platter.
The platter has Ashgrove's mature and smoked cheddars; Tasmanian Heritage camembert and red square and blue cheese from Ashgrove; there are mixed nuts and marinated olives; chilli jam and and fig-and-walnut spread from the Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company.
It's a marvellous complement to the wine, of course.
We nibble, sip and chat as a 2008 Tamar Ridge chardonnay deflects amber shards of sunlight.
Time could stand still.
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