Dark horse set to thrill

Like their peers among the farming fraternity, Australia's wine producers pride themselves on their capacity to innovate and diversify. You want to plant or expand an existing vineyard? There are more than 160 different grape varieties currently being used for wine production in Australia, according to Darby Higgs and his Vinodiversity website.

So what prompted Tasmanian growers Robin and Phil Dolan to go out on a limb to produce Australia's first commercial Dornfelder wine a little over a decade ago?

There were plenty of other varieties they could have added to their White Rock Vineyard in the State's northwest.

"The growing conditions here are just about perfect for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir," Phil Dolan says of the 2.4ha vineyard the couple first planted at Kimberley in 1992.

"We do pretty well with Pinot Gris and Riesling, too. But we're 30 kilometres south of Devonport. That's a bit off the beaten track for a successful cellar door operation.

"Being among the smallest of small scale producers, we wanted to be able to grow something that was equally well suited to our vineyard's cool climate while at the same time being a little different from the wines being offered elsewhere in Tasmania."

Their choice of Dornfelder happened more or less by chance.

"Some German tourists told me about a relatively new red wine variety that was being grown in their country," Dolan recalls. 

"It was called Dornfelder. I was intrigued and decided to check it out for myself. I thought if we liked the look of it we'd give it a go here."

Dornfelder is something of a mystery in Australia. It was first bred as a hybrid variety in Europe during the mid-1950s. The first commercial plantings were made in Germany in 1979.

Some 45 years later, the variety figures among the two most widely planted red wine grapes in that country, with almost 8,000ha of Dornfelder now established. Globally, it remains largely unknown, apart from a smattering of small plots scattered across the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Canada and the UK.

Dornfelder's success in Germany is easily understood. More traditional red wine grapes have a hard time flourishing in the ultra cool growing conditions that are typically found there. Too little sunshine causes red grapes to be very pale in colour and lacking in aroma and flavour. 

Dornfelder not only thrives in Germany's marginal red winegrowing climate, the early-ripening variety produces very dark velvety reds that are rich in colour and flavour. It was those same varietal characteristics that Dolan hoped to add to White Rock's Tasmanian wine portfolio.

A family holiday in Europe visiting grandchildren provided an ideal opportunity to explore Germany's Mosel Valley. Dolan knew the region was world-renowned for outstanding white wines, particularly those made from Riesling. He wasn't so sure about its red wines.

"It turned out most of those we tasted and enjoyed there were made from Dornfelder," Dolan recalls.

"In fact, we discovered the variety had quite a strong following, too, because it produced wines that were international in style. Wines with plenty of colour and flavour."

A subsequent visit to a vineyard growing Dornfelder in Kent in southern England suggested there was potential for the variety to succeed in Tasmania's slightly warmer maritime climate.

As well as spending time researching Dornfelder's viticultural habits, the Dolans had to search far and wide for planting material. They eventually found it in South Australia with the help of the Riverland Vine Improvement Committee Inc.

The Kimberley couple began with an initial planting of 400 vines in 2009.

Their first vintage in 2013 produced a small quantity of rich, velvetty wine the Dolans simply labelled 'Dawn Red.' In June 2014, the vineyard dark horse won a gold medal and Trophy for Best Other Red at the International Cool Climate Wine Show held on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

Frogmore Creek winemaker Alain Rousseau – who continues to make the wine under contract – was not the least bit surprised by the variety's early success.

"It has massive berries that allow you to extract even better colour than you can get from Shiraz!" he exclaims.

"You just need to make sure you don't over-crop it in the vineyard."

Rousseau speaks with the voice of experience. Dornfelder was one of a handful of new additions Frogmore Creek made to its own Roslyn Vineyard at Campania in 2014.

The variety has also migrated east in Tasmania. Today it can be found at the Gibson family's Winter Brook Vineyard in the Tamar Valley. The property's previous owners, Nicole and Frank Huisman, were already familiar with Dornfelder when they bought the small hobby vineyard at Loira back in 2010.

"When we tried the Dornfelder from Robin and Phil, we got pretty excited about the idea of planting it," says Nicole Huisman.

"We had previously thought the variety wasn't available in Australia."

The Huismans went on to plant 2.5ha of Dornfelder at Winter Brook. It seemed a welcome stablemate to the Grüner Veltliner and Blaufränkisch the couple had already established there.

With vintage 2025 now already well underway around the State, Phil Dolan is looking forward to another successful Dornfelder harvest at White Rock. He's not the only one.

Mewstone's Jonny Hughes has become a regular customer of the Dolans. He's been buying Dornfelder fruit for inclusion in the Hughes & Hughes range of wines he makes at Flowerpot in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel region, south of Hobart.

The Hughes & Hughes label provides Jonny Hughes and brother Matt with valuable opportunities to explore wine styles and techniques that challenge convention and break with tradition.

"Our 2019 was the darkest wine I've ever seen," Hughes says with a huge grin on his face.

"I know it was a bit of an exceptional year in the north of the State, but the colour of that wine was off the charts. It gave a whole new meaning to the word 'dark.'

"As well as a stand-alone varietal red, we've made some pretty interesting wines by incorporating Dornfelder into various blends made with Chardonnay, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Pinot Noir.

"A large part of the appeal of Dornfelder is its versatility. We use a far bit of it to make our naturally-fermented Pét-Nat sparkling wines. The wine style has become especially popular in Australia, and Dornfelder is ideally suited to making it.

"It's a high acid, low pH variety with great colour. It develops its distinctive fruit flavours at fairly low sugar levels, so you end up with Pét-Nat wines that have real vibrancy with quite low alcohol. They're big plusses in today's wine market."

Seems like this vineyard dark horse has thoroughbred aspirations. Watch this space.

Last page update: 26 May 2026