23 Rows
04/06/2025
Set between the foothills of Mount Roland and the shores of Lake Barrington, 23 Rows Vineyard and Tiny Home Accommodation blends cool-climate wine production with uber-cool, eco-friendly hospitality.
North West Tasmania
North West Tasmania is a complex, patchwork quilt of ancient geology and landforms. Indeed, there is greater geological diversity here than anywhere else in Tasmania. Some parts continue to be explored.
Agriculture provides the major land use.
European exploration and land clearing in the early 1800s uncovered deep, rich red basalt-derived soils, where dairying sprang up and vegetables and cereals grew prolifically. Today, this is Australia's food bowl. Home to more than 75 percent of the country's frozen peas and beans.
North West viticulture is small scale and artisan. In 2024, its growers accounted for just 2 percent of Tasmania's total wine grape harvest.
While a handful of sites prosper on basaltic soils, others can be found in the alluvial soils of river valleys that historically supported berry farms and fruit orchards. Clays, gravels and river sands offer good drainage and fertility but can be shallow in depth.
On valley margins and hillside slopes, Jurassic dolerite makes its presence known.
Vineyards here are well-drained and moderately fertile but endure very cool growing seasons. This is ideal sparkling wine terroir.
North West Tasmania is hot property at the moment.
The annual Regional Movers Index – which analyses population movements between Australia's capital cities and regional Australia – found two of the nation's top five 'hot spots' in 2025 included Latrobe and Devonport in North West Tasmania. The Meander Valley was among the nation's top five locations for inter-regional migration in 2025.
Image: Tasmanian Archives
Broad Acres
03/29/2025
Ulverstone's Broadby family established Broad Acres Vineyard on Tasmania's central north coast in 2016. Previously farmed for orchard fruit and vegetables, their property above Westella Drive now sees the family's renowned Tasmanian Pickled Onions business rubbing shoulders with one of the district's most exciting new wine ventures.
Devils Gate
03/26/2025
Ray and Debbie McGinty established Devils Gate Vineyard at Barrington after emigrating from Surrey, England, in 2012. The couple's 30ha property sits high on a ridge that forms part of an ancient volcanic plateau. Red soils here are free-draining and nutrient-rich, with excellent water-holding capacity.
Eastford Creek
03/21/2025
Before selling Nichols Poultry to TasFoods in 2016, Sassafras couple Sue and Rob Nichols spent almost 30 years transforming their small start-up in the North West into a Tasmanian market leader. The family's recent foray into cool-climate viticulture looks set to follow a similar trajectory.
Ghost Rock
03/17/2025
Ghost Rock founders Colin and Cate Arnold began their North West wine odyssey in 2001 with the purchase of Pat and Kay Walker's 1.4ha Patrick Creek Vineyard. It wasn't long before viticultural challenges posed by the site – established in 1988 – prompted a move to a more suitable location.
House of Hargrave
03/14/2025
Mother and daughter Coral and Savannah Hargrave entered the industry in 2022 with the purchase of a 30-year-old vineyard 16km south-west of Devonport. The pair swapped lives in the Queensland sun for the peace and tranquility of rural Lower Barrington.
Lake Barrington Estate
03/13/2025
What is it about growing grapes and making wine that causes otherwise rational people to swap everyday lives and set off into the great unknown as pioneering viticulturists and vignerons? When Sydney-siders Travis and Bree Klerk purchased Lake Barrington Estate in August 2016, it seems to have been prompted by divine intervention.
Lanigan's Vineyard
03/12/2025
When TJ and Bree Lanigan first contemplated setting up their own food and wine business, the couple were living and working in Geraldine, 90 minutes' drive from New Zealand's fast-growing wine region. But it wasn't Canterbury's Waipara Valley that loomed large on their radar. It was Tasmania's North West Coast.
La Villa Wines
03/09/2025
In the early 1980s, Marcus and Gail Burns moved from a family apple orchard at Spreyton (15m above sea level) to the vine-clad slopes of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. Between 1984 and 1993, Marcus's professional cycling career took all manner of twists and turns before the couple finally settled back on home turf.
Leven Valley Vineyard
02/25/2025
Leven Valley Vineyard - at Gunns Plains, 25km southeast of Ulverstone - sprang into life as Moonrakers when former Sydney couple Steve and Diana Usher planted 0.5ha of Chardonnay and 0.5ha of Pinot Noir in 1997. The vines - and a little viticultural advice – came from Delamere founder Dr Richard Richardson.