Tasmania's first vines were planted by Lieutenant William Bligh on a voyage of discovery, back in 1788. Many of today's Tasmanian wine producers have launched their own voyages of discovery by navigating passage around the island industry's seven recognised wine-growing areas:
A small number of producers have chosen to conduct their wine explorations beyond those seven areas. Pioneering new terrain and new terroir.
Wine in Tasmania groups them collectively into Other Places.
'Boundary Riders' would be a far more appropriate term.
They're grape-growers and winemakers working on the edge of the unknown.
Wine pioneers creating their own little bit of Tasmanian history.
Richard Jones grew up on an historic farming property in the Jordan River Valley, ploughing paddocks and shearing sheep. Seven generations of Joneses had laboured there since the 1860s. But a life on the land wasn't for him. Beyond school, Jones spent more than a decade working interstate in oil, gas, and mining industries.
As a young bloke raised by a couple of academics within sight of a major shipping harbour, Simon Stewart planned to break the mould and spend his life sailing the seas as a master mariner. When he and Frances Gatenby first crossed paths on a pub night out in Tasmania, planting grapes and managing a cool-climate vineyard were furthest...
Luck's a fortune. Even bad luck, sometimes. Peter Dredge was an emerging sports star in Adelaide when a wayward discus struck him in the head at an athletics event. The 17-year-old spent five months in hospital. It took even longer to recover from the mental trauma brought on by the loss of a potential career.
Few vineyard estates anywhere in the world are home to resident ghosts, the country's oldest garden conservatory and an 1850s chapel. Such is the rich history of Entally Estate, located at Hadspen, 10 minutes' drive from the Launceston CBD.
Small-batch wines from Tasmania, crafted with intent, curiosity, and respect for the vineyard. L'appel is the brainchild of former Sydney-sider Bart Johnston and his French-born partner, Jess Nuel. Johnston is an emerging figure in the 'new wave' of Tasmanian winemaking, having transitioned from wine service to hands-on wine producer.
Bernard and Margaret Brain's Ouse River Wines is a substantial but remote cool climate vineyard on the couple's Home Hill near Ouse in the Central Highlands. Rotherwood Farming began with the Brain family in 1947. Agriculture here dates back to European settlement in the 1820s, adding heritage significance to the vineyard's distinctive terroir.
Born and raised in Tasmania, Luke Andree moved to Melbourne in anticipation of a career in professional sport or physiotherapy but was bitten by the wine bug while working part-time in wine retailing. Formal study in wine science at Charles Sturt University then set Andree off on a new career path.
Cassie and Barry Kooij became the custodians of Unavale Vineyard on Flinders Island in 2021 after taking on leasehold arrangements from owners Roger and Bev Watson. The 3ha site is located at Lady Barron in the south of the island and was first planted in 1999.
Neil and Julieanne Snare established Winstead Vineyard at Bagdad – 35 km north of Hobart – in 1989. The township's curious moniker was acquired in the early 1800s, when Private Hugh Germain named the district after a place in Arabian Nights, one of two books he carried while exploring Tasmania's Midlands.
