Producers share spring in vines

What is it about Tasmania that inspires so many people to swap ordinary lives in the suburbs for the extraordinary challenges of our State's cool-climate viticulture? Whatever it is, they're taking to grape-growing and winemaking in increasing numbers.

When Wine South held its first Spring in the Vines festival back in 2021, some 35 participating vineyards opened their doors to the public. This year, cellar door visitors can choose from almost 60 different producers. 

A handful or so will operate special pop-up cellar doors for the weekend. Many others are only open for Wine South festivals and are closed at other times in the year.

Spring in the Vines 2026 kicks off on Friday 30 October. It's essentially a three-day self-guided wine touring weekend, one that concludes on Sunday 1 November.

Monday 2 November is Recreation Day – a public holiday – in northern Tasmania. Visitors from that part of the world might also spend a few days of their long weekend meeting producers, enjoying live music and sampling some of the State's best seasonal local food and cool-climate wine.

Event organiser Wine South is a small, industrious, not-for-profit marketing group that draws its volunteer membership from the Southern Wine Trail.

Participating vineyards and wineries can be found in and around the Hobart CBD, throughout the Coal River, Derwent, and Huon Valleys, as well as down the d'Entrecasteaux Channel, on Bruny Island, and deep into the South East/Tasman Peninsula. Further details here. 

Southern Tasmania contributed close to 35 percent of the State's total wine crush in 2026. Small-scale for sure, but home to some of the industry's big guns.

Seven of the 10 gold medals awarded to Tasmanian wines at last month's Australian Pinot Noir Challenge, for example, were grown or made in the Coal River Valley. Tasmanian producers dominated the judging, winning 45 percent of all gold medals awarded at the event.

The recent 2026 vintage was a small, very high quality one in Tasmania. It was also one of the lowest-yielding and most challenging growing seasons of the past 70 years.

Five grape varieties accounted for 95 percent of Tasmania's wine grape harvest – Pinot Noir (49 percent), Chardonnay (27 percent), Pinot Gris (9 percent), Sauvignon Blanc (7 percent) and Riesling (4 percent).

Around 40 percent of the State's crop in 2026 was dedicated to sparkling wine production.

"Spring in the Vines is the perfect chance to emerge from your winter hibernation and experience everything that is unique about southern Tasmanian wine – our vineyards and our producers – and then take home some of the best of the new season wines," says Wine South president Mark McNamara (pictured above with wife Kirralea.)

"It's an event not to be missed by all Tasmanians and visitors to our beautiful State."

First-timers at this year's Spring in the Vines are Collado Way (Huon/Channel), Frankcomb (Huon/Channel), Germain Wines (Bagdad-based but presenting in the Huon/Channel), Iron Creek Bay Estate (Coal River Valley), Three Capes Vineyard (South East) and Vini Fusilli (Huon/Channel).

Eight producers will be supporting live music performances on at least one of the three days of the festival's duration – Cascade Bay Wines (South East), Cathedral Rock Vineyard (Huon/Channel), Charles Reuben Estate (Coal River Valley), Five Bob (Huon/Channel), Kate Hill Wines (Huon/Channel), SISU Wines (Coal River Valley), Three Capes Vineyard (South East), and Uplands Vineyard (Coal River Valley).

Downloadable printable maps will be available soon.

Use the filter provided here to plan your wine journey according to:

• Producer: Meet the people behind the brand and hear their stories
• Wine Region: Focus on a single region each day
• Wine Variety: Devise your own wine trail focusing on a preferred wine style/variety
• Entertainment: See who has food, music and/or art
• Ticketed events: Discover special themed tastings and master classes
• Family Friendly: Find the producers that are child and/or pet friendly
• Uniquely Open: Producers that open only for Wine South events.
• Accessibility: Locate sites with accessible parking, wheelchair access and onsite toilets.

When Jim Chatto first encountered Tasmanian Pinot Noirs in the mid-1990s, he was only just starting out on his wine career. The talented young winemaker soon decided he'd take a break from warm-climate winemaking in the Hunter Valley and head south to Tasmania to find out what all the fuss was about.

In 1998, he took charge of a new vineyard and 500-tonne winery on the West Tamar. Just months after his appointment, he joined James Halliday and Huon Hooke as an associate judge at the 1999 Tasmanian Wine Show. The gig took three days but left him with lasting memories.

Chatto later returned to the Hunter Valley, determined to come back some day and plant his own vineyard. That day finally arrived in spring 2007 when he and his wife Daisy began their Isle Vineyard at Glaziers Bay in the Huon Valley.

In 2012, they produced their first wines from the vineyard's eight carefully chosen Pinot Noir clones.

This month's Spring in the Vines provides an opportunity for Pinotphiles to look back at six vintages of Chatto Isle Pinot Noir in a special masterclass to be held on Friday 30th and Saturday 31st October at 11am.

Chatto Isle Pinot Noirs have been lauded by all and sundry in recent years. The Halliday Wine Companion tasting panel, or example, has tasted and reviewed every one of the 14 wines released under the label. Ratings for vintages 2015 to 2025 include six wines rated 97 and two wines rated 98.

Seats at the Dillons Road winery and cellar door are limited to 18 per masterclass. Each session is set to run for an hour and a half.

The cost is $50 per person.

Last November's Pinot Noir Masterclass for Spring in the Vines was an extraordinary event. Yours truly wasn't the only one to be impressed by the quality of the wines and clarity of Chatto's inclusive presentation.

Several well-known and highly-regarded Tasmanian winemakers joined paying guests and were glowing in their praise of the tasting, which ran well beyond its scheduled one-hour duration.

It was easily the most interesting and illuminating Pinot Noir tasting I've attended during the past decade or so. Further details here.

It seems all roads lead to Glaziers Bay during the Huon/Channel's Spring in the Vines festivities. Two new producers there will be pouring wines for visitors – Vini Fusilli and Collado Way.

Vini Fusilli's Piero Morano and his partner Lucinda quit Sydney's hustle and bustle in the summer of 2020 and moved house and home to what was once No Regrets Vineyard.

Their 1ha block of Pinot Noir on Dillons Road was first planted in 1999 by Elsewhere Vineyard founders Eric and Jette Phillips.

Elsewhere wines won critical acclaim and barrow loads of wine show gold medals throughout the 1990s. Five Royal Hobart Wine Show trophies were won by Elsewhere Pinot Noirs at the six events judged from 1991 to 1996.

No Regrets was established as the couple's retirement project, but show successes soon followed them to their new developments. The 2000 No Regrets Pinot Noir won three trophies at the 2001 Royal Hobart Wine Show, and another two at the 2002 Tasmanian Wine Show only months later.

The 2000 No Regrets Vineyard Chardonnay – made from Elsewhere plantings – was a late bloomer, winning top gold in its class at the 2005 Tasmanian Wine Show.

Having owned and operated the acclaimed Two Chaps Café and Pizza Madre in Marrickville, Morano appears to have settled very quickly into his new role as a Tasmanian vigneron.

Some expert advice from the likes of Paul and Gilli Lipscombe (Sailor Seeks Horse) and Catalina Collado and Daniel Way (Collado Way) has seen him taking to grape-growing and winemaking like a duck to water.

Morano produced his first Vini Fusilli wines in 2021. His current offerings – made from purchased fruit – include a vintage 2026 sparkling wine (Refermentato), a 2025 skin-contact Riesling (Macerato), a 2025 semi-carbonic Syrah (Semicarbonico) and a 2026 white/red blend of Pinot Gris and Tempranillo called Odio.

Estate-grown-and-made Pinot Noir is released as Del Contadino ('of the farmer') Pinot Nero. The current wine is the 2025 – an excellent vintage throughout the Huon/Channel.

Refreshingly dry 2026 Garden Cider is also available for tasting and purchase.

Stay a while and hear Lucinda and Piero tell their story while drinking in the river views offered by this 25-year-old vineyard. Further details here.

After working and travelling through five continents and 10 countries, viticulturists/winemakers Catalina Collado and Daniel Way joined forces in 2018 to carve out new lives together in the Huon/Channel region, south of Hobart.

Collado is Chilean-born and trained. Her international experience with the likes of TerraMater (Chile), Seresin Estate (New Zealand) and high-profile Screaming Eagles Vineyard (US) provided her with a neat mix of technical expertise and eco-friendly vineyard and winery practices.

As the winemaker at Ranelagh's renowned Home Hill Vineyard, Callado brought the family company plenty of kudos with a series of impressive single vineyard wines. The 2023 Home Hill Estate Pinot Noir enabled Terry and Rosemary Bennett to take home trophies for Best Tasmanian Red Wine of Show and Champion Red Wine of Show at the 2024 Australian Small Winemakers Show held in Stanthorpe, Queensland.

Collado earned her own 15 minutes of fame by being named Champion Winemaker of Show 2024.

Way spent four years with cool-climate specialist Mac Forbes before his 2025 appointment as vineyard manager at Mewstone Wines in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. 

The Flowerpot-based operation is also taking part in Spring in the Vines. Details here.

Mewstone is owned by brothers Jonny and Matt Hughes and first sprang to life in 2011. It hit a purple patch when Jonny was named Best New Act (2018) in the national Young Gun of Wine awards. Australia's pre-eminent wine critic James Halliday then named Mewstone its Best New Winery in the 2019 Halliday Wine Companion.

New Vineyard of the Year (2021) brought further national acclaim from the Young Gun of Wine team. Mewstone was shortlisted as finalist in the Young Gun of Wine Vineyard of the Year Awards in 2023 and 2025.

Collado Way will be pouring their new 2025 Chardonnay and 2025 Huon Valley Pinot Noir during the Spring in the Vines festival. What could be better than a day out featuring good wine, good music and delicious Mediterranean style small plates prepared by Cygnet's Noa Masel? Further details here.

Last page update: 8 October 2026