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.
It's often said the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. So when Rod and Cecile Roberts won the 2021 Australian Pinot Noir Challenge with their 2020 OSSA entry, contract winemaker Liam McElhinney wasn't surprised. It wasn't a matter of first time lucky.
Daniel Kelleher admits he never set out to grow grapes and make wine. The small-scale cattle farmer from Premaydena was 10 years into a successful career in Melbourne when he decided he'd had enough of corporate life. Time to pursue something more inspiring, to do greater good, achieve longer-term goals.
Priory Ridge Estate is a small family operation with a big community profile. Located just outside St Helens, it was first planted in 2008 by former Tasmanian MHR David Llewellyn and his wife Julie. The 6ha vineyard was established on part of a former grazing property that had had family connections to the couple stretching back over a century.
Rivulet Wines is the brainchild of 2023 Young Gun of Wine finalist, Keira O'Brien. Brought up in North East Victoria, O'Brien's early career moves led her on a merry dance through various property, retail and IT management roles before freelance writing and vintage experiences set her on a path into cool-climate winemaking.
When it comes to Pinot Noir, opposites attract. One grape, many uses. Low yield, high value. Minimal intervention, maximum terroir expression. So when friends from Northwood (Sydney) planted 0.5ha Pinot Noir in Tasmania's south-east, their vineyard name seemed a foregone conclusion.
Spring Vale Vineyard – near Cranbrook – was established by the Lyne family in 1986. The Lynes trace their Tasmanian ancestry back to the 1820s and the arrival of William Lyne, who later established Spring Vale as a prosperous sheep and cropping enterprise.
Lilydale's Beutenmüller family grew wine grapes in Germany before settling in Tasmania in the 1850s. The vine-growing gene then skipped a few generations until direct descendant Geoff Wells and his wife Jenny planted vines at Winkleigh in the West Tamar in 1988.
Located between Copping and Bream Creek, Stroud Dairies – home to Bream Creek Dairy – has become a cornerstone of the Tasman District's agricultural heritage. The Bignell family's connection to the land in these parts reaches back over three generations.
The Bend is one of a handful of historic sites on the East Coast that combined pioneering heritage with viticultural promise when vines appeared there in the 1990s. It was once part of a grazing property, established by the Cotton family. Their legacy is reflected in the simple elegance of The Bend's 1860s homestead.
Treehouse Vineyard founders Matt and Kate Carlin began their Tasmanian wine odyssey in 2007 with the purchase of a stunning 17ha bush block at Little Swanport. It sits roughly halfway between the East Coast townships of Swansea and Triabunna.
