Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers
Winemaker Nick Glaetzer quietly slipped onto the Tasmanian wine scene in 2005 when he took up a position at Hood Wines in the Coal River Valley. Few locals heard much about him until Glaetzer hit the headlines in September 2011 when he was named Australia's Young Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine.
Barely five weeks later, Glaetzer won the prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy at the 2011 Royal Melbourne Wine Show. It was the first time in the trophy's 50-year history that a Tasmanian producer had secured Australia's most celebrated prize for young reds. With his own iteration of Tasmanian Shiraz, no less.
The award was not only a poke in the eye for producers in the Barossa Valley, it validated Glaetzer's decision to leave home and move to Tasmania. He's a lover of wines with elegance and finesse. They've since become his stock in trade.
Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers was formed in 2008 when the bloke from the Barossa and his wife Sally (née Dixon) decided Tasmania would become their permanent home. They sealed the deal with a massive renovation of an old ice factory on the edge of the Hobart CBD. It included an uber-cool, below stairs cellar door tasting room. The facility opened to the public in 2015.
Along the way, Glaetzer was named a Winemaker of the Year finalist in the Young Gun of Wine awards held in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Establishment of the family's own 12ha vineyard at Tea Tree followed in 2018.
Seven years on, the couple's Riesling, Pinot Noir and Shiraz remain in a formative period of development. Glaetzer hopes they will produce their first vintage of Glaetzer-Dixon wines in 2026.
In the meantime, the couple continue to buy topnotch fruit from around a dozen long-established growers in three river valleys – the Coal, the Derwent and the Tamar. These include vineyards planted in the 1980s and 1990s.
Old vines supporting a bright industry future.
Key details:
- Nick Glaetzer: owner/operator
- Sally Glaetzer: owner/operator
Vineyard/cellar door address:
- Urban cellar door: 93 Brooker Ave, Glebe TAS 7000
- Vineyard location: Middle Tea Tree Road, Tea Tea, TAS 7017
Urban cellar door tastings. By appointment only.
Telephone:
+61 (0) 417 852 287
Email:
nick@gdfwinemakers.com
Website:
www.gdfwinemakers.com
Tasmanian viticulture takes place within a diverse mix of soil types and microclimates.
Climate data* for sites in the Coal River Valley highlight the wide diversity of growing conditions here. Six Friends (MJT 15.9°C; 786 GDD); Pooley Cooinda Vale (MJT 16.8°C; 929 GDD); SISU (MJT 16.8°C; 929 GDD) figure among the coolest sites.
Richmond Park Estate and Strelley Farm Estate (both MJT 18.0°C; 1189 GDD) are considered to be among the warmest, along with Coal Valley Vineyard and Cross Rivulet Winery (both MJT 17.9°C; 1185 GDD).
Vineyard sites on the Australian mainland are far warmer than those in Tasmania.
South Australia's Piccadilly Valley* (MJT 20.4°C; 1730 GDD) and Macedon Ranges* (MJT 19.9°C; 1365 GDD) in Victoria are regarded as the coolest GIs in their respective states.
Climate data* for Middle Tea Tree Road, 1995-2024:
- Total annual average rainfall: 548mm
- Growing season average rainfall (Oct 1-Apr 30): 312mm
- Average autumn rainfall: 115mm
- Mean January temperature: 17.2°C
- Growing degree-days: 1009 GDD
- Average no of hot days (35°C or more) per year: 1
- Average no of cold days (minimum 4°C or less) Sept 1-April 30: 21
*Source: My Climate View, utilising past data from the Bureau of Meteorology and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Funded by the Australian Government.
Last page update: January 2026