Valley wool clipped

As a young bloke growing up in the cool dry farming country of Tasmania's upper Derwent Valley, Charles Downie learned early on in life that you have to be level-headed when it comes to running a profitable family business. Every hour given to the land has to bring its just rewards. 

You can't allow your heart to rule your decision-making. It's revenue not romance that pays the bills.

That's the reason the sixth generation woolgrower and his wife Sally have decided to clip Glenelg Estate's meticulous stock management and breeding programs in favour of devoting more time and energy to producing their own estate-grown wines.

The first of them – the 2025 Glenelg Estate Chardonnay and the 2025 Glenelg Estate Pinot Noir – hit retail shelves at the beginning of August. Each wine is available for purchase online for $35 per bottle.

Prior to July 2025, the couple owned and managed some 16,500 merino sheep and 150 Angus cattle on their 2000ha Glenelg Estate, outside Gretna. They are now livestock-free.

The property still plays host to thousands of woolly workers, but that's managed through leasehold arrangements with a neighbouring farmer.

Charles and Sally Downie have devoted more than 20 years to woolgrowing. The property was first established in 1828 when Lieutenant Governor George Arthur granted 1000 acres of prime grazing land to Scottish immigrant and solicitor, Andrew Downie.

It was Charles Downie's distant forbear that introduced sheep to the site and made the production of superfine merino fleece his family's core business.

Vines entered the picture in 2017. Their addition to the site has proved a valuable business diversification strategy.

"It also provided opportunity to expand the family's business activities – and exploit our water resources – without the need to take on and manage more land," Downie says.

"We plunged in at the deep end with the planting of 20ha of vines," he adds, noting the couple had no prior knowledge or experience in growing cool-climate wine varieties.

"Like most agricultural pursuits, you don't have to be an expert. You just need to find the right advice and then follow the program that's set out for you. It's a matter of running a good calendar, really. Doing the right thing at the right time.

"That makes it sound a bit simplistic. But so long as we do a terrific job in the vineyard, then the wines should really take care of themselves to a large extent."

Downie says the couple received plenty of encouragement at the project's outset from long-term industry players Gerald Ellis (Meadowbank) and Fred Peacock (Bream Creek Vineyard).

Absolute Viticulture's Marty Smith (pictured below) was contracted to provide advice on planting material and formulate plans for its installation on the site. 

The busy East Coast contractor was just the man for the job. Smith grew up around vines and wines.

His late father – Chris Smith – was a former Clare Valley vineyard manager who moved to Tasmania with his family to establish Clover Hill Vineyard at Lebrina in 1986.

Initial planting selections at Gretna included Chardonnay (6.1ha), Pinot Gris (3.5ha), Pinot Noir (8.9ha), and a small trial plot of Syrah/Shiraz (1.5ha).

Like the Ellis family at Meadowbank – further up the valley – Downie believed the latter variety would be well-suited to the district's warm, dry climate.

Experience to date has shown those initial assumptions were correct. That accepted, harvest in mid-May comes with the added pressure of having to ensure crop protection is 100 percent effective in the face of large populations of marauding birds.

The close-planted vineyard has since been expanded to 35ha. Chardonnay (13ha) and Pinot Noir (17ha) remain its core varieties.

Vines traverse gently rolling hillside slopes, affording some welcome wind protection to the site.

Nutrient-rich volcanic soils power strong vegetative growth, with a mix of ancient sandstones and mudstones offering good drainage. Pinot Gris (pictured) has been especially successful on the site.

"I'd love to have ten times more of it," says Downie.

The vineyard's close proximity to the River Derwent allows ready access to clean and reliable irrigation water when required.

Low rainfall is a constant concern. The occasional big dumps of rain experienced a generation or two ago are gradually giving way to more frequent scattered showers across the valley.

Four out of the five most recent growing seasons at Glenelg Estate received rainfall of less than 300mm.

"Our records probably only show a slight reduction of around 10mm over the past 40 years, but I think our effective rainfall has declined," Downie explains.

Day-to-day hands-on vineyard management is the responsibility of former cherry grower James Clements. Battling the elements to deliver perfectly ripened fruit to family Christmas celebrations had been a real challenge.

Harvest at Glenelg Estate comes several months after the festive/New Year period and is a much more orderly affair in the Derwent Valley.

"The vineyard's been set up to be worked mechanically as much as possible," Clements says.

"The vast majority of our fruit is picked using mechanical harvesting provided by Marty Smith. We also do a fair bit of handpicking as well.

"The wire trellis system here is set up with quick release clips so that after harvest we can run through with a tractor-mounted mechanical pruning machine called a Klima. We try to minimise labour inputs as much as we can.

"There's no compromise. We still focus on growing our fruit to the highest possible standard in order to achieve the best possible wine quality."

Downie (pictured below) says the vineyard was originally planted to develop a family operation based around bulk wine grape sales and distribution across Australia. 

A record crop in 2025 prompted the Downies to direct a small volume of surplus Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to contract winemakers Derwent Estate in order to begin their own estate-grown wine label.

Both wines received kid-glove treatment from winemaker John Schuts. Small-batch winemaking included maturation in French oak barriques.

Meanwhile, Downie says wine grape sales will still continue for the foreseeable future.

Glenelg's customer base shows no sign of losing interest.

The vineyard's biggest client is the Brown Family Wine Group, based at Kayena in the Tamar Valley.

Brown Family Wine Group senior winemaker Tom Wallace says Glenelg's first Shiraz crop played a key role in the creation of the company's super-premium red blend, the 2020 Devil's Corner Mt Dove Pinot Syrah.

The variety accounted for 47 percent of the 2021 blend. That wine currently sells for $75 per bottle at the Devil's Corner cellar door on the East Coast.

"It's a pretty exciting development for both companies," Wallace notes.

Other vineyard clients include Luke Andree's small-batch Sonnen Wine.

Andree was a 2023 finalist in the Young Gun of Wine awards.

Established 20 years ago as an initiative designed to connect young consumers to the wines of young winemakers, the annual Young Gun of Wine Awards have grown to become a key part of Australia's wine marketing landscape.

The coming year will see Glenelg Estate reach a key milestone. A decade of vineyard operation.

Time flies when you're having fun.

The Downies already have plans for further expansion waiting in the wings, but there's no rush to add more vines just yet.

"We'd really like to see how the market is holding up first," Downie explains.

"There's already a significant lack of processing capacity in the State. And besides that, the costs of making wine down here are so much more than they are on the mainland."

Six generations of family history suggest Downie's next business move will be true to form. 

Level-headed.

Last page update: 12 August 2026