THE TASMANIAN WINE INDUSTRY            [home]  [topic page]

Tasmania has a highly successful and rapidly developing wine industry. Its vineyards are small by mainland Australian standards and produce very characterisic wines which are generally of the highest quality but different style due to its higher latitude and cooler climate.

Excellent references to the industry can be found at the following locations. Ref 1; 42South.com/taswines       Ref 2; Tasmanian-wine.com

Tasmania has a longer history in wine than most realise. The first vigneron was Mr Bartholomew Broughton of New Town north of Hobart who began to grow grapes with great success in the early 1820s. This vineyard continued until 1850 when a new owner pulled out the vines.

In the 1830s William Lawrence was growing grapes in Launceston itself. In the 1840s, Dr Matthias Gaunt of Windermere on the East Tamar grew grapes for wine.

In 1866, eight Tasmanian wines were entered in Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition. The industry went into sharp decline shortly after.

The next major attempt to grow commercially was by Diego Bernacchi who set up the Maria Island Company off the East Coast on Maria Island in 1886. This company collapsed about 1895.

( Reasons for this indifference to wine production can partially be attributed to the social status of a winemaker at this time. A brewer making beers and ales was a "gentleman", a vigneron was not.

This was a set of social norms inherited from England which had had no wine making tradition since mediaeval times due to the climate. Those who grew wines commercially were "not gentlemen" - possibly foreigners or ex convicts or worse! They therefore received little governmental support.

Other reasons included tastes of the time - fortified wines such as brandy were in high demand and Tasmania's climate is not suited to the varieties on which these are based.)

The revitalising of the industry began in the 1950s. In 1959 a Frenchman, Jean Miguet, began a vineyard in Lalla using closely spaced and trellised plantings. The produce ripened well and good wine was made.

Claudio Alcorso established Moorilla Estate which continues to this day on the Derwent and with this vineyard began the Universty of Tasmania's association with the wine industry particularly through Professor R Menary.

Since then, major vineyards have been established in Pipers Brook by Andrew Pirie, then throughout the Tamar and elsewhere.

HISTORY AND WINE

Wine making began in the Middle East maybe about 6000BC (ref Uni of Penn). It has an extensive history associated with most ancient western civilisations including theSumerian, Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilisations. It appears that wines and beers, which also have a very old history, are very much part of western culture as significant food stuffs and as healthy drinking sources. Parasites cannot exist in alcoholic drinks. ( Eastern cultures such as the Chinese and Japanese peoples turned to boiled water based drinks to minimise parasitic risks. This is reflected in a large proportion of these people having a natural intolerance to the alcoholic beverages of the west. )

wine container circa 5400-5000BC

The Greeks took wine making into the Black Sea, southern France and Spain as they colonised these areas. The Romans began the great wine making areas of other regions of France as well as northern Africa, along the Danube and into the Balkans.

Wine became a part of the Christian tradition and monasteries were often significant in the maintenance and development of wines during the "Dark Ages" and Mediaeval eras.

Alcohol was not a significant social problem until the introduction of cheap distilled "gin" based drinks in the early 1800s. These led to enormous social problems in the Victorian era and started the temperance movements.

Vitis vinifera is a temperate climate plant probably originating in the Caucasus near the Black Sea. It is a member of the order Rhamnales. Vitaceae, the grape family has 11 genera and 700 species and is present in both the Old World and the New World.