AUSTRALIA'S WINE ISLAND

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.

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.

Website sub-pages under VISIT help describe and define each of these seven wine-growing areas.

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. Vineyards at Bagdad and Campbell Town might one day lay claim to be pioneers of a Midlands wine-growing area or sub-region. 

Wine in Tasmania is a continuing story...

Last page update: January 2026