Torch Bearer
Visit Torch Bearer winemaker Anh Nguyen at her èse Vineyard in the Coal River Valley and you soon get the feeling there's not much she doesn't know about grape-growing and winemaking. Truth is, she is an engineer and researcher by profession. Nguyen and her husband were living and working in Sydney just a decade ago.
They discovered the 6.5ha vineyard at Tea Tree while holidaying in Tasmania. It was exactly what they were looking for – a chance to break free from the big city and begin a new life on a small family farm. Professional ambitions included being able to take advantage of her engineering background and develop tech-based, 'smart' biodynamic farming techniques.
Twenty years earlier, the vineyard was the pride and joy of Hobart's Brianese family. Vittorino Brianese had worked on his parents' vineyard in Veneto while growing up in Italy in the 1930s and 1940s. After emigrating to Australia in the mid-50s, he had always wanted to get back to caring for vines.
In 1994, the Brianeses planted just over 12,500 vines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on their Tea Tree Road property, 30km north of Hobart.
The site features rich/heavy black soil over dolomitic limestone. That provides a good growing medium but low rainfall here is a stumbling block to strong growth. So too is frost. The vineyard's low-lying rows makes the site extremely frost-prone. Indeed, much of Tea Tree was adversely affected by severe frosts in 1993, the year before the Brianese family established their vineyard.
Vittorino's viticulture was fastidious. Aged in his early 60s, he worked with his vines seven days a week, hand-hoeing and nurturing the soil. He leaf-plucked the entire vineyard several times during the growing and ripening seasons, in order to optimise airflow and sunlight exposure in its vine canopies.
The hard work paid off. The 1997 èse Pinot Noir struck gold at the 1999 Royal Hobart Wine Show. The 2002 won gold at the 2004 Tasmanian Wine Show, while the 2008 Pinot Noir won gold at the 2010 Tasmanian Wine Show.
The vineyard owners were very select in the number of events they entered each year, but were almost invariably among the medal winners.
By the time Nguyen stepped onto the property, èse Vineyard had had four years of ownership beyond the Brianese family. It was ready for new ownership and new ways of doing things.
In less than a decade, Nguyen has turned the place on its head. Vittorino Brianese would be in awe of the way in which this earth mother has developed the property into something of a 21st century biodynamic wonderland. Roaming population of geese, ducks and sheep all contribute to natural weed control, vital plant nutrition and fertilisation, as well as low-impact pest management.
Nguyen's focus on soil health is not just limited to the use of cover cropping, composting and biodynamic preparations. An ambitious tree-planting program – including some 600 Mānuka tea trees – has increased soil quality by encouraging the establishment of vast populations of micro-organisms underground.
It's all based on good science. Nguyen has a PhD in Civil Engineering as well as a Master of Applied Science in Environmental Engineering. Both have been used to full effect in the development of cutting edge, farm management systems.
These operate under an in-house VineAI program that can offer small to medium-sized businesses the opportunity to automise and optimise critical farm operations. Nguyen's project team includes a data scientist and several electrical and electronic engineers. Their ground-breaking work was initially funded by the $15,000 Westpac prize she received from winning the AgriFutures Rural Futures Award for Tasmania in 2019.
A carefully devised network of vineyard sensors collects data on all manner of essential soil parameters. These can be analysed and then trigger automatic irrigation and even frost protection measures if and when required.
Alongside that, learning to make her own wines must have been a doddle for this multi-talented vineyard operator.
In August 2025, the 2021 Torch Bearer 'Skinsy' Chardonnay was named among Australia's Best Skin Contact Whites in a tasting organised and published by the Young Gun of Wine awards.
Clearly the event organisers must have seen the light as well. Torch Bearer was named a finalist in the 2025-2026 Young Gun of Wine Vineyard of the Year Awards. Winners will be announced in June 2026.
Wine production is surely benefitting from all that hard work. As of January 2026, the range of Torch Bearer wines commercially available include traditional method sparkling, three single varietal whites, four single varietal reds and two red blends. Check the website for details.
Torch Bearer operates offices in key Vietnamese export centres, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Growing markets for world-class viticulture.
Key details:
Dr Anh Nguyen: owner/operator, Torch Bearer Tasmania
Vineyard/cellar door address:
1015 Tea Tree Rd, Tea Tree TAS 7017
Telephone:
+61 (0) 469 440 995
Email:
contact@torchbearerwine.com
Website:
www.torchbearerwine.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 Tea Tree Road, 1995-2024:
- Total annual average rainfall: 542mm
- Growing season average rainfall (Oct 1-Apr 30): 301mm
- Average autumn rainfall: 115mm
- Mean January temperature: 17.2°C
- Growing degree-days: 1020 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: 20
*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: May 2026