Marty fine work

If you felt like hiding under the doona for a few more minutes this morning, spare a thought for Absolute Viticulture's Marty Smith. The chances are that by the time your feet finally hit the floor, the consultant viticulturist and vineyard contractor will have already spent an hour or so mulling over weather maps and busy work schedules.

The family business Smith formed with his wife Lisa back in 2013 may be small but it's now at the centre of a significant number of vineyard developments around the State. Many are large-scale by Tasmanian standards.

"I worked out we've established close to 350 hectares of new vines during the past four years," Smith says.

"On top of that, we were also responsible for harvesting close to 15 percent of Tasmania's 2020 wine grape crop. That's two years in a row we've picked that sort of volume."

Smith believes his development projects have increased Tasmania's vineyard area by almost 20 percent.

"We've got another 80 hectares of new vineyards to establish this year, mostly down south," he notes.

While few operators in Tasmania's cool climate wine industry would deny the Smiths' viticultural business has set a cracking pace since its inception, none will be surprised by its professionalism.

Marty Smith has spent his entire life living among vines. Born in South Australia's Clare Valley, his childhood home was on a vineyard owned and operated by his parents, Chris and Kasia Smith. In 1986, the family moved to Northeast Tasmania, where his father established Clover Hill Vineyard at Lebrina for its Victorian parent company, Taltarni Vineyards.

"From 2002 until 2009, I worked alongside Dad at Clover Hill as the company's Technical Officer," Smith adds.

"In 2008, three years after Clover Hill was named Tasmanian Vineyard of the Year by the Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania (RAST), I won the RAST's Oenology Scholarship. The next year, I became viticulturist at Bleasdale Vineyards in South Australia. I was responsible for the management of some 700 hectares of company and client vineyards."

Today, the list of Absolute Viticulture clients in Tasmania includes some of Australia's biggest and best-known wine companies – Treasury Wine Estates, Accolade Wines, Brown Family Wine Group, Hill-Smith Family Vineyards and the Fogarty Wine Group to name a few. 

The latter owns a suite of high-profile premium brands in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. In 2019, the Fogarty Wine Group took up 50 percent ownership of the Cambridge-based contract winemakers Tasmanian Vintners, the company entity created following the sale of financially troubled Winemaking Tasmania.   

Greenfield sites purchased at Forcett and Richmond in southern Tasmania were also earmarked for development by the Fogarty Wine Group. In 2019, Smith and a small army of private contractors planted 37 hectares of new vineyard at Forcett. It's a short distance from the 40ha Woodside Vineyard recently established by the Hill-Smith family.

Two weeks ago, major earthworks began at Strelley Park, a 170ha parcel of land outside Richmond in Tasmania's Coal River Valley. In coming months, Absolute Viticulture will install necessary vineyard infrastructure before planting around 40 hectares of vines. Future developments will see each of these Fogarty Wine Group projects expand to 100 hectares of vineyard area.

"The Fogarty Group has vineyard assets right across the country, and their focus is high quality premium wine," Smith explains.

"These new projects at Forcett and at Richmond will have similar focusses, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay being the dominant grape varieties."

While vineyard development in southern Tasmania has become Absolute Viticulture's stock-in-trade in most recent times, there have been plenty of similar projects elsewhere in the State. Enough to prompt the Smiths and their young son Carlix to become inveterate travellers.

In 2019, for example, vineyard management roles coupled with the establishment of new plantings saw them become familiar faces across the industry. Sites included Swansea and Cranbrook on Tasmania's East Coast; Campbell Town in the northern Midlands; Sassafras and Port Sorell on the Northwest Coast. 

It's little wonder the Smiths currently divide their down time between a home/office in northern Tasmania and the family's Blackwood House at Cranbrook on the East Coast.

This year's vintage on their own 6ha vineyard was a high quality one, Smith says, but provided little joy to its owners. Chris Smith died suddenly last September, while holidaying in Queensland.

"Dad loved coming down and helping us on the vineyard after he retired.

"He said to me on his last visit that he just loved working with his son. He reckoned helping establish our vineyard reminded him of a lot of what we did together back in South Australia in the 70s. He said he couldn't put it into words.

"One day, I will understand when I do the same with our son."

First published 26 June, 2020: tasmaniantimes.com