European settlement along the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and into the Huon Valley began in the early 1800s as whalers, fishers and small-scale farming operations moved out of Hobart Town in search of sheltered waterways and productive landholding. The Huon provided river access deep into the southern interior, and by the mid-19th century the region was alive with boatbuilding, timber milling and fruit growing.
The geology is dominated by Permian mudstone and sandstone overlain in places by Jurassic dolerite and fertile river alluvium. The variety of soils found here – from loamy river flats to stony slopes – is well-suited to mixed farming, orcharding and viticulture.
The Huon Valley and D'Entrecasteaux Channel made major contributions to Tasmania's international renown as The Apple Isle. But when export markets collapsed in the 1960s, many businesses foundered. Surviving orchards often embraced organic methods and other specialty crops. Innovation and diversification have seen the emergence of artisan craft and food producers, aquaculture, viticulture and a wide range of eco-focused tourism ventures.
The very cool maritime climate in these parts offers excellent growing conditions for finely-crafted Chardonnay, aromatic Pinot Noir and expressive white grape varieties including Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris and Riesling.
Vineyards dotted here and there are invariably small-scale and privately owned. In total, they accounted for just 1.2 percent of Tasmania's total wine grape harvest in 2024.
But small is beautiful.
The Huon Valley was named one of the 'Best Places to Go in 2024', according to global travel brand Conde Nast Traveler.
In May 2026, National Geographic named southern Tasmania one of the 15 best places in the world for food right now:
'In Hobart, Tasmania's capital, that deep relationship to terra and tide surfaces in everyday food.'
Is sparkling wine really taken seriously? Frieda Henskens often wonders about that. It's frivolous. A drink for the ladies. A party starter. (The serious wine comes later.) When the Henskens Rankin of Tasmania 2010 Vintage Brut was named Champion Wine of Show at the 2019 Tasmanian Wine Show, the news brought barely a ripple of consumer interest.
When the merchant vessel Castle Forbes took a wrong turn while transporting free settlers to Hobart in 1836, it ended up in the shallows of the Huon River. Passengers were forced to disembark in what became known as Castle Forbes Bay. Within a decade, it was home to timber fellers, boatbuilders and river traders.
Born into a family of apple orchardists, Terry Bennett became a grower himself. But it wasn't long before restricted access to the 1960s Common Market caused him to re-think his future. The Tasmanian Government helped him remove his trees at Ranelagh to graze cattle. Third time lucky, Bennett and his wife Rosemary planted grape vines in 1992.
Kate Hill is living proof that growing a wine business takes time. After graduating with a BSc in botany and biochemistry, she tried marketing and tourism before cellar door work led to a post-grad degree in winemaking. Vintage stints at home and abroad (Napa, Maipo and Rhone Valleys) concluded with four years in Griffith, New South Wales.
All things being equal, Johnny Hughes would be making wine in Barolo now and one of the State's cutting edge wine businesses would not exist. But that's not the way of the world. When he had his chance to move there permanently, the ambitious young winemaker could not get the permits he needed.
When optometrist John Rees and his wife Joy established Nandroya in 1989-1990, their vision was to see the viticultural potential of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel realised in their life times. It was a vision on a grand scale. Still recovering from the loss of its apple industry during the 1970s, the district was home to few vineyards in the late...
The story of Rory Duggan's R. D'Meure wines is a fascinating one, weaving together threads of family, place and winemaking innovation. It begins with Dirk Meure, Duggan's uncle. Born to Dutch parents who moved to the Channel region south of Hobart in 1950, Meure became a Sydney-based criminologist and inspiring law academic.
There's a moment in life when all pieces seem to fall together to form a completed jigsaw puzzle. For Daniel and Caroline Lamont, that moment came in 2012 when they exchanged wedding vows at Resolution Vineyard, on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Less than five years later, they were signing property deeds for the tiny pocket handkerchief.
It's been 15 years since US author and film maker Bernie Harberts visited Tasmania. Altogether inauspicious, his journey included one seemingly ordinary but critical moment. The inveterate traveller left a handwritten note at Cygnet's Red Velvet Lounge: Sailor Seeks Horse. I would like to visit Tasmania – by horse (or pony)!
Is it possible to run a small Tasmanian vineyard when you've been office-bound for all your working life? Saskia Jahn and Nick Kayes believed they could. When the couple first saw their 1.2ha of Pinot Noir, it was early 2019, and they were keen to swap the big city rat-race for a place they could keep their horses.
