Tasmania
Bartholemew Broughton advertised Tasmania's first commercial wine for sale in 1827, and it supplied the vine rootlings, which started the Victorian and South Australian industries a decade later.
However 20 years later the industry was all but dead, thanks to labour shortages stemming from the Victorian gold rush aided by a government-decreed ban on distillation, lack of suitable sprays to prevent fungal diseases and a simple lack of knowledge of proper viticultural and oenological practices.
The revival came in the late 1950's; first a French engineer named Jean Miguet planted a 1-hectare vineyard near the Tamar River in 1956, followed by Italian textile maker Claudio Alcorso who planted a vineyard on the banks of the Derwent River just north of Hobart in 1958. Since that time the industry has grown, increasing dramatically.
But it is still a very small player in the overall scheme of things. Its 1997 vineyard area of 490 hectares compares to 1,720 hectares in the Yarra Valley or 1,350 hectares of the Margaret River.
While the scale of the vast majority of producers remains as Lilliputian as ever, the number and spread of wineries continues to steadily increase, and even more is learned about the possibilities afforded by the surprisingly diverse climate.
Tasmania is a tourist's paradise, with its natural beauty unspoilt by the trappings of the twentieth century, and a pace of life that comes from another era.
While geographically proximate, the Pipers River and Tamar Valley localities emphasise how dangerous generalisations about Tasmania are, and how important are site selection, aspect, clonal selection and cropping levels.
The Pipers River area is particularly well suited to the production of finely structured, super-premium sparkling wines made from the classic blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a touch of Pinot Meunier. Pipers River also produces fine, long-lived Riesling, flowery Gewurztraminer and heady Pinot Gris. The Riesling in particular, has the same capacity to develop in bottle as its mainland counterparts 10-15 years or even more, if cellaring conditions are favourable. With the qualified exception of Pinot Noir, which succeeds in the better, warmer vintages, Pipers River has proved unsuited to the production of red wines. Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon have provided a negligible return, tending to be excessively herbaceous, with bitter green bean flavours.
The Tamar Valley is almost the opposite, producing full-flavoured and deeply coloured Cabernet, ripe complex Chardonnay and robust Pinot Noir. The extremely beautiful Huon Valley, a maze of hills and valleys with winding intrusions of the ever-close sea, produces surprisingly rich Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with greater weight and flavour than the location of this most southerly of Australian vineyards would suggest.
The East Coast - particularly around Bicheno - provides yet another change of pace. Careful site selection (most notably in the case of Freycinet, and adjacent Coombend, and of Apsely Gorge) has resulted in wines, which are altogether free of the vegetal or acidic characters of some cool-climate regions.
Climate
The Pipers River boasts a climate comparable to Champagne and the Rhine Valley. But while the heat summation is perilously low at 1020 HDD, sunshine hours are generous (7.3) and high sugar levels are achieved in years in which late season rains do not intervene (the growing season rainfall averages 310 mm). Pipers River benefits from relatively high humidity, which is beneficial in promoting and accelerating physiological ripeness. Spring frosts have proved to be a major problem in some sites, with overhead sprinklers the only effective answer.
The broad estuary of the Tamar River obviously overwhelmingly influences the macroclimate of the Tamar Valley; while the heat summations are not significantly greater. The net result is wines that altogether belie the climate, suggesting it is far warmer than the raw figures substantiate. It is also highly probable there is an interaction between the differing soil types, which magnifies the apparent climatic differences.
Popular Grape Varieties
| Chardonnay | 220ha |
| Riesling | 55ha |
| Sauvignon Blanc | 40ha |
| Pinot Noir | 185ha |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | 50ha |
| Other | 50ha |
| TOTAL | 600ha |
Popular Wine Styles
Chardonnay
These are usually much more fine and delicate than most other Australian Chardonnays and are unified by their capacity to develop in bottle, and by an unsurprising European edge to the tangy citrus and apple fruit flavours. Some of Australia's best-unwooded Chardonnays are produced here and in the south.
Riesling
The Riesling resurgence is very much part of the Tasmanian scene, and particularly in the Pipers River region the Rieslings is outstanding. The Riesling pays off cellaring for a decade or more, its steely intensity unfolding as the years go by. Pipers Brook and Tamar Ridge are the yardsticks by which all others are measured.
Pinot Noir
The two areas provide a near-perfect example of the sensitivity and unpredictability of this variety. The wines of Pipers River are fragrant, stylish but often exceedingly light, while those of the Tamar Valley can stray into brawny, dry red wine with colour, extract and tannin, but lack varietal character. Each district can, however, produce marvellous wines when the vintage conditions are right, those of Pipers River being elegant and delicate, those of the Tamar rich and sensual. Some of Australia's most enormously rich, ripe and full bodied Pinot Noirs have come from the East Coast and the Huon Valley, deeply coloured, with strong spiced plum aromas and flavours, and with an above-average capacity to develop in bottle.
Sparkling
The early view of Tasmania as a whole was that it was suited to the production of sparkling wines and not much else. These are of great and growing importance, Jansz and Taltarni's Clover Hill have gained both national and international acclaim and the volume of their production as well as the refinement of their style continues.
Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot
These varieties flourish in the Tamar River, producing wines of at times unexpectedly dense and ripe aromas and flavours, and with considerable extract and very fine tannins. Most Pipers River producers source their Cabernet Sauvignon from the Tamar Valley. The Coal River and the East Coast are Southern Tasmania's answer to the Tamar Valley; each area produces firmly structured wines, which particularly in warmer vintages avoid the herbal/grassy/minty characters found in excessively cool-grown Cabernet. Fine tannins and good acidity are hallmarks of the wines.
TAS 2000 - 2001 wine production totalled 1,618,000 litres.
Zones |
Region |
Sub-regions |
| Pipers Brook | ||
| Tamar Valley |