Couple on the Rise

Fancy a cellar door visit but find the idea of all that sipping and spitting just too damn intimidating? You're not alone. Even the most practised taster can become a bit coy on unfamiliar territory.

The good news is that well-trained and capable staff are highly skilled in reading the body language that visitors bring with them to the tasting room. Seasoned professionals - like Stoney Rise couple Joe and Louise Holyman - can turn brief encounters into relaxed and enjoyable wine experiences.

That's how it should be. With around two percent of all Australians visiting a winery each year, along with one in eight international travellers in 2018-2019, wine tourism was a $9.6 billion business sector before COVID-19 hit our shores.

"Cellar doors are really important to the industry as they provide operators with one of the most effective ways of connecting with new customers," says vigneron Joe Holyman.

It's been 16 years since Holyman and his wife Louise purchased the former Rotherhythe Vineyard at Gravelly Beach and took up residence there. Their time in the Tamar Valley coincides with strong growth in the State's wine tourism sector.

In 2004, the year the couple married and moved to Stoney Rise, UK travel agents named Tasmania one of the world's top four tourism hotspots. Within a year, the State's visitor numbers skyrocketed by 20 percent. Recent Tourism Tasmania data reveal over 280,000 people visited a Tasmanian winery between April 2019 and March 2020.

"There mightn't be a lot of cellar door activity right now but it's important for us to work through that and be right on top of our game when tourists return to the State in large numbers," Holyman explains.

Busy parents of three school-aged children, the Holymans are just getting used to conducting cellar door tastings in the smart new facility the couple opened on their Hendersons Lane site in late August this year.

It represents a very significant vote of confidence in the State's wine tourism sector. Around 100 square metres of internal space is complemented by a similar area outside that's devoted to courtyards and a walled entry lane.

"Prior to opening, we'd basically set aside a part of our home for tastings and sales, and that was less than ideal," Holyman says.

"We've now added a kitchen with plenty of storage as well. Once things settle down and people get used to moving around the country again, we're planning to do some guest chef events."

In the meantime, small, carefully prepared plates of food are available for purchase and consumption on site. So too are beer and non-alcoholic beverages.

A well-priced and eclectic selection of local, national and international wines augments those that can be purchased from the vineyard's own on-site winery.

Designed in Launceston by award-winning architecture and design company Cumulus Studio, the new Stoney Rise cellar door provides a striking addition to the popular Tamar Valley Wine Route. The design is modern and angular and finished in a variety of materials – natural timber, glass, concrete, brick and painted Colorbond sheeting. Little more than 5.6m in height, the facility already appears comfortably settled in its vineyard landscape.

GE and KJ Eustace Builders were selected to deliver the project. The firm's expertise in constructing winery and cellar door facilities for clients including Tamar Ridge, Bay of Fires and Josef Chromy Wines is readily apparent in the quality of finish on display.

While the broad tidal estuary of the nearby Tamar River is clearly visible from the facility's expansive verandah, it's the unerring quality of the vineyard's No Clothes, Stoney Rise, Holyman and Project X wines that is most likely to dazzle cellar door guests.

Their various journeys from vineyard to tasting bar are likely to be recounted again and again as visitor numbers increase over coming months.

"I won't be working all that often in the cellar door," Holyman admits.

Back in 2014, the couple added 3.5ha of vines to the 4ha they already had in production. They're mostly Pinot Noir. Another thousand vines are Trousseau, an indigenous red grape from the Jura region of eastern France.

"It's really important for me to focus on growing the best fruit that I can in order to find out what those vines can produce," Holyman says.

"The more I'm involved in viticulture, the more it evolves and results in better wines. I find being a winemaker really boring. It's the vineyard that matters most to me."

First published 1 November 2020: The Examiner