WINES
Tasmania is home to many of Australia's best cool-climate wines.
The State's Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir and bottle-fermented sparkling wines have national and international reputations for superb quality and elegant, cool-climate wine characteristics.
Tasmanian wine producers have a passion for Pinot Noir. The challenging red variety accounts for almost half the State's total wine grape harvest in any given year.
No matter where you travel in Tasmania, you are never far from top quality, single vineyard Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir wines grown and made by Tasmanian vineyards figure among the most highly regarded Pinot Noir wines in the country.
Their quality and reputation reflect the highly-skilled expertise and experience of grape-growers and winemakers across the State. Specialist contract winemaking operations based in the north, north-west and the south of the island frequently produce award-winning wines for their vineyard clients.
In the 1960s and 1970s, leafy, light-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon wines helped lay the foundations for Tasmania's reputation as a producer of premium quality, European-style red wines.
The 1982 Heemskerk Cabernet Sauvignon was included in the gold medal taste-off at the 1983 Royal Melbourne Wine Show to determine the winner of the event's prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy for Best Young Red Wine.
The Bordeaux-inspired red wines of Domaine A lead a tiny brigade of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot producers in Tasmania. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot harvests combined seldom account for more than one percent of the island's total wine grape harvest.
In 2011, Barossa Valley-born Nick Glaetzer created a shockwave of national wine industry responses to his success in winning the Royal Melbourne Wine Show's coveted Jimmy Watson Trophy. The wine was the Tasmanian grown and made 2010 Glaetzer-Dixon Mon Pere Shiraz.
The Rhone Valley red variety has barely a toe-hold in Tasmanian vineyards at the moment. It accounted for around one percent of the total vintage crush in 2025.
Shiraz (aka Syrah) will become an important planting choice as adaptation to climate change takes on greater significance.
Chardonnay accounts for close to one quarter of the State's total wine grape harvest each year. Three other whites in total – Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling – account for another 25 percent.
Tasmania has a well-deserved reputation for producing world-class Chardonnay table wines.
It is estimated that more than a third of Tasmania's Chardonnay and Pinot Noir harvests are directed to traditional method sparkling. Many large wine companies located on the Australian mainland in particular purchase Tasmanian Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for sparkling wine production.
Tasmanian-grown traditional method sparkling wines have a strong overseas following and have become frequent award winners in international competition.
In 2018, House of Arras chief winemaker Ed Carr became the first winemaker outside Champagne to win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships, held in London.
More recently, Carr was named the 2024 International Wine Challenge Sparkling Winemaker of the Year, the first Australian to receive the honour.
Vineyards in North East Tasmania are widely respected for their key roles in creating many of the country's best bottle-fermented 'traditional method' sparkling wines.
The annual Halliday Wine Companion attributes 5-star ratings to Australia's best wineries.
In the 2026 edition, Tasmanian producers accounted for 33 of the publication's 493 wineries awarded the publication's coveted 5-star rating. Close to 7 percent. Clearly, Tasmania punches above it weight.
By way of comparison, Western Australia's Great Southern – similar in size to Tasmania's 2,888ha – had just two 5-star wineries listed in the Companion's Best Wineries by Region.
Last page update: 20 February 2026