Valley tourism trifecta

Barely 20 minutes' drive from Hobart and home to the heritage town of Richmond, the Coal River Valley enjoys a cool temperate climate with an abundance of summer sunshine and a generally dry autumn. So it's no surprise that niche farming – including winegrowing – has been a big success since it first emerged here in the 1970s.

Hospitality and tourism ventures, meanwhile, have played lesser roles in adding to the valley's fortunes. Indeed, it's only in relatively recent times that operators have moved out of the shadows of colonial history and into the high risk sectors of food and wine.

Come December 2015, there will be some welcome changes to the valley's current tourism offerings. The Cambridge property of Riversdale Estate will open its new cellar door tasting room and French bistro. Both offer stunning vineyard views of nearby Pitt Water and Orielton Lagoon. 

In early 2016, owners Ian and Wendy Roberts will then complete a tourism trifecta with the launch of their Peter Rabbit-themed children's garden. The developments will add significantly to the range of on-farm activities already being conducted on the 120ha property.

The couple's latest venture appears to be well-timed. The recent release of Tourism Tasmania's Tasmanian Visitors Survey shows that a record number of tourists came to the State during the past year.  More than one million of them.

The Robertses have been the Coal River Valley's quiet achievers for longer than both would care to admit. That noted, they also figure among Tasmania's most successful business innovators and entrepreneurs. 

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ian Roberts was a leading breeder of Angora goats in Australia. In the following decade, the couple transitioned Riversdale Estate into cool climate viticulture, at a time when land use in the Coal River Valley was largely confined to dry-land cropping and livestock grazing.

One of Tasmania's largest olive groves - planted on the property in 1996 - provides the key ingredient for 50 olive-based products. They are marketed under the Island Olive Grove Tasmania brand. Retail clients have included the international luxury lifestyle stores of Harvey Nichols London. 

Four self-contained cottages at Riversdale Estate offer premium visitor accommodation, providing further proof of the couple's longstanding commitment to business diversification in the valley.

When Roberts purchased his property near the 340ha University Farm in 1980, there were just two pioneering vineyards in the Coal River Valley, with another one - Morningside - about to get underway. 

George and Priscilla Park's Stoney Vineyard at Campania was planted in 1973. Meanwhile, GlenAyr at Richmond was established by Strathayr's Casimaty family in 1975. No significant further developments commenced in the valley until the Craigbourne irrigation scheme was constructed there in 1985-86.

Today, the Coal River Valley is home to around 275ha of vines, approximately 15% of Tasmania's total vineyard area. 

Riversdale Estate is the largest family-owned vineyard in Southern Tasmania. Its 38ha of vines produce both highly-acclaimed single vineyard wines - bearing the estate's own label - as well as select parcels of wine grapes that are sold under contract to some of Australia's leading wine companies.

So why wait 30 years before deciding to sell Riversdale's award-winning wines direct to the public?

"Part of the problem is you can't see our property from the main road – Richmond Road – so we're a bit out of sight, out of mind, really," Roberts says.

"More importantly - in spite of what many people in the tourist industry say - there are still not enough visitors coming to Tasmania to support cellar doors being run here on an entirely commercial basis... including the payment of penalty rates, for example. A vineyard cellar door on its own just wouldn't work.

"We've really needed a story and a history of wine show successes, the things you need to gain some leverage in the market. Now that we've achieved those, we're about to take the next step. But it's had to be a gradual process, one of minimising risks."

Those that know Ian and Wendy Roberts also know that the couple don't do things in half-measures. The vineyard has not only enjoyed the wine show successes the couple had been seeking, it's become the source of Tasmania's most awarded single vineyard Chardonnay wines. 

The couple's trophy cabinet at their new cellar door tasting room had better be a large one. Since 2009, nine vintages of Chardonnay under the property's own labels have won 10 trophies and 28 gold medals in national and international competitions.

Visitors will be spoiled for choice when it comes to finding a good glass of wine to drink in the views. Besides Chardonnay, the vineyard is planted to the white varieties Pinot Gris (aka Pinot Grigio), Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc. The red varieties are Pinot Noir and Syrah (aka Shiraz), with a tiny amount of Pinot Meunier being directed to sparkling wine production. 

Wines are set to be marketed via a 3-tier structure, with entry-level Roaring 40s wines and an Estate range taking the lion's share of vineyard production being devoted to the couple's own wines. An impressive selection of limited release or 'reserve' wines made by contract winemakers Nick Badrice and Alain Rousseau will offer wine enthusiasts the ultimate in grape variety/vineyard expression.

With cellar door construction and landscaping all but completed, Roberts says he's especially looking forward to opening the Peter Rabbit Garden in a few months' time. Negotiations regarding the licensed use of the name and associated merchandising have been long and legally tedious, but all that is in the rear-view mirror now.

Roberts sees the irony of being a farmer and basing part of his anticipated business success on the child-friendly attributes of a family of rabbits, albeit from the pen of Beatrix Potter. Nevertheless, birthday parties, 'high teas' and the retail sale of licensed merchandise will all add to Riversdale's on-farm income.

"It's required a tremendous amount of work, but after almost 35 years we think we're just about ready," Roberts says with relief.

First published 9 December 2015: Tasmanian Farmer, Issue 80