Tasmania - Australia's Cool Climate Wine Island
Tasmania is Australia's smallest and most southerly wine state and one of its most exciting. Separated from the mainland by the Bass Strait, the island enjoys a genuinely cool maritime climate that produces wines unlike anything made on the Australian mainland. The island state has been dubbed "the new Champagne" because of its outstanding sparkling wines and has emerged as a premium wine region over the past 20 years. The results speak for themselves, world-class Pinot Noir, elegant Chardonnay, precise Riesling and some of Australia's finest sparkling wines. Explore our Tasmanian wines →
The Climate
Tasmania's cool maritime climate provides steady ripening conditions, but with this climate comes the challenges of lower sunlight levels and a greater variation in terroir, the very complexities that encourage winemakers' determination. Long, slow ripening seasons produce grapes with extraordinary flavour concentration and natural acidity, the hallmarks of great cool-climate wine. Tasmania's wine region boasts a unique terroir characterised by cool temperatures, long daylight hours and diverse soil types.
The Sub-Regions
Tasmania's wine zones are divided into seven sub-regions, delineated more by rainfall levels and humidity than temperature or even soil composition. The north, including the Tamar Valley and Pipers River is the heartland of Tasmanian sparkling wine, with a cool, Champagne-like climate and red volcanic soils that make it a particularly good place for fizz. The south and east tell a different story, the Coal River Valley and Derwent Valley, just outside Hobart, are known for stellar Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling and even some Cabernet Sauvignon. Driest of all, the pastoral Huon Valley in the far south is an emerging region full of promise.
The Wines
Pinot Noir is Tasmania's most celebrated red, intensely perfumed, silky and complex in a way that warmer climate versions simply can't replicate. Chardonnay is equally impressive, precise, mineral and built to age. Sparkling wines, made predominantly from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, are considered among the finest in Australia. Riesling thrives in the cooler pockets, producing wines of extraordinary delicacy and aging potential.
