AUSTRALIA'S WINE ISLAND

Wine within Tasmania

The whole island of Tasmania is a single official wine zone or geographic indication (GI), one of 65 in Australia. Indeed, it's the country's largest GI in area, despite the island's small number of producers.

Large parts of Tasmania are uninhabited, especially the western half of the island. Vineyards are typically distributed in and around seven major winegrowing areas of the north, east and south.

The Tasmania GI was finalised on 26 January 1994, when the name was entered in the Registrar of Protected Names. The term defines the region's physical boundaries and proscribes its use under Commonwealth of Australia law (Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Act 1980).

There are no formally registered wine regions or sub-regions as such. 

However, unofficially, the industry itself recognises that there are seven distinct patterns of viticulture within the State. They are North West Tasmania, the Tamar Valley, North East Tasmania, the East Coast, the Coal River Valley, the Derwent Valley, and the Huon Valley/D'Entrecasteaux Channel.

Wine in Tasmania sub-pages under VISIT help describe and define each of the seven areas. Producers outside those areas – or who work across a number of sites – are grouped under Other Places. 

Tasmanian wine is a continuing story

These are still early days for Tasmania's small-scale, cool-climate wine industry. Vineyard enterprises continue to challenge pre-conceived ideas and arbitrary boundaries. 

North West Tasmania is no longer confined to sites close to Devonport. Sites at Rocky Cape and Marrawah are now its outliers. 

Barton Vineyard near Campbell Town might one day lay claim to pioneering an emerging Midlands wine-growing area .

Last page update: January 2026