European settlement of Tasmania's East Coast began in the early 1800s, with sealing, whaling and pastoral leases being established around sheltered bays and river mouths. By the 1830s, small farming communities near Bicheno, Swansea and Triabunna were focused on cropping and grazing.
The first commercial vineyard was established by William 'Dollar' Steel at Falmouth, around 1830. In the 1840s, Silesian immigrants founded further smaller ventures. All faded into obscurity eventually as poor labour and market prospects offered even greater challenges to the rudimentary viticulture then possible in rugged coastal environments.
Diego Bernacchi's ambitious developments on Maria Island were the source of considerable community interest during the mid-1880s. But their rise and fall were swift and dramatic. Vineyard planting in 1886. Company liquidation in 1892.
Poor site selection, challenging climatic conditions and the collapse of the Van Diemen's Land Bank all contributed to Bernacchi's demise.
Almost 90 years would pass before John Austwick (Craigie Knowe Vineyard) and Geoff Bull (Freycinet Vineyard) both started growing vines in 1979. They played pioneering roles in the small but thriving industry now scattered up and down the coast. Sites today are widely dispersed, from around St Helens in the north to Marion Bay and beyond in the south. Recent developments near Dunalley and on the Tasman Peninsula have produced some excellent, award-winning wines.
Geology on the East Coast is both complex and diverse. Granite and dolerite igneous rocks; ironstone and other sedimentary rocks. All contribute in some way to well-drained soils. Add in a sunny, temperate maritime climate and the coast offers very favourable conditions for viticulture.
Water availability is the ultimate determinant for vintage success. In some years, there's simply not enough of it to go around.
Vineyards on Tasmania's East Coast produced 13 percent of the State's total grape harvest in 2025.
Geoff Bull was a former newspaper photographer and abalone diver when he decided on a tree change. He cleared 4ha of land not far from his home in Bicheno and established what would become the East Coast's iconic Freycinet Vineyard. The year was 1979.
Gala Estate at Cranbrook is one of Tasmania's oldest family-owned landholdings. It was founded by Scottish brothers Adam and John Amos in 1821. They sailed 30,000km to settle and pioneer the central East Coast. Today, 4000ha Gala (rhymes with 'valour') spans seven generations of custodianship.
Horses jousting in medieval manner. Young bikers on a flow trail. Rocking DJs and pumping music. Life has certainly changed on the old Overtime Vineyard since Emilie and Ben Flemming took over in July 2021. Vineyard founder Nick Anderson would be impressed by all that's now on offer on his humble patch of 750 vines.
Di Aldous is the driving force behind Hurly Burly Wines, a small-batch, handcrafted label launched in 2016. It's centred on cool-climate table wines, produced from select parcels of fruit grown on the East Coast. The name 'Hurly Burly' was inspired by the rowdy behaviour of guinea fowl that roam the family's Topeka property at Little Swanport.
Kelvedon Estate – south of Swansea – is located in one of the oldest farming districts in Australia. The 5300ha property was established in 1830 by Frances and Anna Maria Cotton, who brought Quaker ideals to the convict colony. Hard work and innovation also brought an enviable reputation for fine superfine wool and beef cattle.
When James Radcliff was granted land at Little Swanport and named it Lisdillon, it marked the start of two centuries of innovative farming on the East Coast property. Sheep grazing and an ill-fated salt works came first. By the mid-1800s, Lisdillon had become a small prosperous community where nine families formed a town.
Scott Williams and Simon Will shared passions for golf, red wine and the sunny climes of Tasmania's East Coast. In 2015, the intersection of all three catapulted the two mates into the wine industry when they leased Diamond Island Vineyard from Bicheno fisherman, Derek Freeman.
Bruce Dunbabin's forbear John Dunbabin arrived in Hobart in 1830 as a convicted horse thief and later went on to become a major landowner and sheep grazier in the south-east. But it was a journalist visiting Mayfield in the 1880s who first wrote of the prospects of viticulture in the district.
Milton boasts a rich history – dating back to 1826 – when its land was first granted to English settler John Allen. Purchased in 1980 by the Dunbabin family, the 1800ha property provided a home to grazing and cropping until sixth-generation farmer Michael Dunbabin and wife Kerry added viticulture as a business diversification strategy.
Lisa and Marty Smith's Blackwood House is one of three Cranbrook vineyards that form part of an expansive East Coast patchwork covering sites between Orford and St Helens. The Cranbrook township itself was settled in 1821 by the Amos family, who developed large properties nearby.
