THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO TASMANIA WINE Learn all about the island state’s wine community and the cool-climate elegance of its most famous varieties. CONTENTS – The history of Tasmania – Geography, climate and soil – Viticulture and winemaking – Prominent varieties Cover: Jennifer Doyle, Jansz, Tasmania NORTHERN TERRITORY AUSTRALIA QUEENSLAND WESTERN AUSTRALIA SOUTH AUSTRALIA NEW SOUTH WALES VICTORIA 0 500 TASMANIA Kilometres PIPERS BROOK DEVONPORT PipER s RivER North Wes t LAUNCESTON TaMA r V a LL ey BICHENO TASMANIA E as t C oas t Coal RivER V a LL ey DER wen t RICHMOND V a LL ey HOBART H u ON / ch ann el CYGNET The ultimate guide to Tasmania wine TASMANIA: TINY ISLAND, BIG PRESENCE Celebrated as one of Australia’s finest cool-climate wine-growing areas, Tasmania is turning heads as one of the world’s premier wine regions. - Small, isolated island at the south-eastern tip of Australia - Cool climate and diverse, unique terroirs - Ideal conditions for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and sparkling wines - Booming food and wine tourism industry TASMANIA: Tasmania has found its way to centre stage TINY ISLAND, BIG PRESENCE thanks to its wonderful collection of cool- Tasmania is a small island state off the climate wines that are proving themselves south-eastern tip of Australia. The climate worthy among the world’s finest. and soils of the region combine to create With its pristine and picturesque ideal growing conditions for developing environment, cool climate and fine-food naturally elegant, intensely flavoured and scene, Tasmania is also one of Australia’s aromatic wines, with Chardonnay and leading tourist destinations, and the Pinot Noir the region’s most renowned brilliant Tasmanian wine and grape varieties. The region also produces some of community takes this traveller’s paradise Australia’s finest sparkling wines, reflecting to the next level. high levels of winemaking expertise and the advantages of a naturally pristine, cool-climate environment. Until relatively recently, this small, isolated island was an overlooked piece in the Australian wine puzzle. An outlier both physically and in terms of perception, Tasmania spent years quietly going about its business with only a few big-name pioneers pricking the consciousness of the average wine lover. But things have definitely changed. In recent years, The ultimate guide to Tasmania wine HISTORY 1823 Bartholomew OF TASMANIA Broughton establishes first significant vineyard in the colony. 1788 1834 Vines first arrive in Van Settler William Henty sails Diemen’s Land on the HMS from Tasmania to Victoria, Bounty; William Bligh plants bringing with him local them at Bruny Island. Early grapevine cuttings; these experimental plantings cuttings would become flounder. Victoria’s and South Australia’s first vineyards. MID- 1800s 1958 Van Diemen’s Land is Claudio Alcorso plants renamed Tasmania in second vineyard – Moorilla 1856. The Tasmanian wine Estate – in Hobart. and grape community all but disappears due to the Victorian gold rush. 1956 Jean Miguet plants first (new) vineyard – La Provence – near Launceston. The ultimate guide to Tasmania wine 1960s –1980s TO DAY Tasmanian grape and wine Tasmania is home to a thriving community enjoys period of wine and grape community, with remarkable growth; several around 230 individual vineyards distinct winemaking areas and some of the best cool-climate emerge. wines anywhere. 1990s More trailblazing winemakers arrive; Tasmania begins to truly capitalise on its cool climate and unique terroirs – with great success. HISTORY OF TASMANIA: BUMPY BUT taking grapevine cuttings and plants to INFLUENTIAL PAST, BRIGHT FUTURE Victoria. These cuttings would become the Pioneering early settlers to Tasmania, source of Victoria’s and South Australia’s first which was known as the colony of Van vineyards. Diemen’s Land until 1856, recognised that The success of Tasmania’s own initial grape the region would suit grape growing. The and wine community, however, was fleeting island has been producing wine for longer and faded into relative obscurity in the mid- than the Australian states of Victoria and 1800s, when the Victorian gold rush drove South Australia, and played a significant large numbers of the population to the role in launching these two prominent mainland in search of their fortunes. winemaking states. In 1856, Van Diemen’s Land officially became 1700s Tasmania. Vines first arrived in Van Diemen’s Land 1900s on the HMS Bounty in 1788. William Bligh The Tasmanian wine scene experienced planted these vines at Bruny Island, but a resurgence in the late 1950s. Although these early experimental plantings proved there were many ‘backyard’ winemakers in fruitless. Tasmania, the revival of the state’s modern 1800s wine and grape community dates back Former convict Bartholomew Broughton to this time, when French immigrant Jean planted the first significant vineyard in Miguet and Italian immigrant Claudio Tasmania in 1823. Little more than a decade Alcorso realised that the cool climate and later, in 1834, settler William Henty sailed unique soils of Tasmania were similar to from Launceston in the north of the island, The ultimate guide to Tasmania wine those of the exceptional grape-growing In the 1990s, a number of pioneering regions of their respective homelands. producers arrived on the Tasmanian Vintner Miguet and his wife Cecile winemaking scene, further expanding the planted La Provence vineyard (now called community and setting a high standard. Providence) in north-eastern Tasmania in These included Stefano Lubiana, Peter 1956. Alcorso followed suit in 1958, planting Althaus of Stoney Vineyard and Domaine A grapes near the Tasmanian capital of and Michael Vishacki of Panorama. Hobart and naming his vineyard Moorilla Today Estate, a Tasmanian Aboriginal word After a significant but somewhat bumpy meaning ‘a rock by the water’. He released start, the thriving Tasmanian grape and his first vintage in 1962. To this day, both wine community is here to stay. Providence and Moorilla Estate still produce The island state has seen exceptional excellent examples of cool-climate wine growth in recent decades. This ongoing in a number of varieties. growth is indicative of the quality of both The next couple of decades marked a the region and its producers who create period of dramatic growth for the cool-climate wines that are proving to be Tasmanian grape and wine community. among the best in the world. Wine trailblazer Graham Wiltshire, for instance, established the Heemskerk pilot vineyard in 1966, releasing his first commercial wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon, in 1976. Dr Andrew Pirie established the DID YOU KNOW Pipers River area in 1974 with his Pipers Brook Dutch explorer Abel Tasman first Vineyard. Wiltshire later developed Jansz spotted Van Diemen’s Land on 24 to produce local sparkling wines. The east November 1642; the island is now coast of Tasmania began production named after him. in the 1980s with the establishment of Craigie Knowe vineyard and Freycinet winery. The ultimate guide to Tasmania wine GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE01 AND SOIL:- Errit huctum satem mo. - Conventi culicastam muliis A COOL-CLIMATEhuituam iaecuper. CHAMPIONXXXX - Bi erridet huctum satem mo. GEOGRAPHY, CLIMATE AND SOIL Geography The only officially recognised geographical indication (GI), or appellation, for Tasmania is Tasmania itself. However, informally it has seven distinct wine-growing areas, which you’ll find primarily in the northern, eastern and southern parts of the state, away from the often ferocious ocean winds that batter the west coast. DID YOU KNOW Tasmania is Australia’s southernmost geographical indication (GI). The ultimate guide to Tasmania wine GEOGRAPHY The only officially recognised geographic indication (GI), or appellation, for Tasmania is Tasmania itself. But it has seven distinct wine-growing areas. PIPERS BROOK DEVONPORT PipER s RivER North Wes t LAUNCESTON TaMA r V a LL ey BICHENO TASMANIA E as t C oas t Coal RivER V a LL ey DER wen t RICHMOND V a LL ey HOBART H u ON / ch ann el CYGNET The ultimate guide to Tasmania wine TASMANIA’S SEVEN DISTINCT Pipers River WINE-GROWING AREAS Pipers River is northeast of the Tasmanian Tamar Valley city of Launceston. Dr Andrew Pirie Tamar Valley is Tasmania’s biggest and established this region in 1974 with his Pipers oldest wine district. It sits on both sides Brook Vineyard. Sparkling wines are the of the Tamar River, which flows from area’s specialties, with Chardonnay, Pinot Launceston into Bass Strait. Pinot Noir, Noir and Riesling successfully growing here. Sauvignon Blanc and the varieties in The renowned House of Arras and Jansz sparkling wines (Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier wineries are also in Pipers River. Jansz is the and Pinot Noir) are popular varieties here. only Tasmanian winery that focuses solely on sparkling wine. East Coast East Coast, a food lover’s paradise of fresh produce and seafood, also grows, among other grape varieties, Pinot Noir and DID YOU KNOW Chardonnay. The Freycinet winery opened here in 1980 and has since become one of In spite of its universally cool-climate the island’s leading producers of Pinot Noir. classification, Tasmania’s environment Freycinet also makes the renowned Radenti – and each of its distinct areas – premium sparkling wine. is quite diverse, with variations in climate, soil and wine styles. Coal North West River Valley and Tamar Valley, for North West, the state’s youngest wine example, are actually drier and region, boasts a small number of warmer than southern Victoria. groundbreaking wine producers, including Lake Barrington Vineyard, Ghost Rock and Barringwood. Coal River Valley ADVANCED Coal River Valley, just east of Hobart, is home NOTES to several small wine producers. Many of Tasmania’s lack of defined subregions the vineyards here sit on north-east slopes is in part a testament to the youth to best take advantage of the sun. The of Tasmania as a wine region and vineyards grow the classic varieties of Pinot also to the fact that to gain official Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and classification as a region or subregion, Riesling, as well as a number of other grapes.