European settlement of Tasmania's East Coast began in the early 1800s, with sealing, whaling and pastoral leases being established around sheltered bays and river mouths. By the 1830s, small farming communities around Bicheno, Swansea and Triabunna were focused on cropping and grazing activities.
The first commercial vineyard was established by William 'Dollar' Steel at Falmouth around 1830. In the 1840s, Silesian immigrants founded smaller ventures. All faded eventually as poor labour and market prospects offered even greater challenges to the rudimentary viticulture then possible in rugged coastal environments.
Diego Bernacchi's ambitious developments on Maria Island were the source of considerable community interest during the mid-1880s. But their rise and fall were swift and dramatic. Vineyard planting in 1886; company liquidation in 1892. Poor site selection, challenging climatic conditions and the collapse of the Van Diemen's Land Bank all contributed to his demise.
Almost 90 years would pass before John Austwick's Craigie Knowe Vineyard and Geoff Bull's Freycinet Vineyard – both started in 1979 – played pioneering roles in the small but thriving industry now scattered up and down the coast. Sites are widely dispersed, from St Helens in the north to Marion Bay in the south.
Geology here is both complex and diverse. Granite and dolerite igneous rocks; ironstone and other sedimentary rocks. All contribute in some way to well-drained soils. Add in a sunny, temperate maritime climate and the coast provides generally favourable conditions for viticulture.
Water availability is the ultimate determinant for vintage success. In some years, there's simply not enough of it to go around.
Vineyards on Tasmania's East Coast produced 13 percent of the State's total grape harvest in 2025.
When the bottom fell out of Victoria's building industry in the early 1980s, Brian Franklin ditched his career path in architecture and travelled to Tasmania to put his amateur fishing and diving skills to good use. He spent the next 18 years catching abalone and rock lobsters before seeking the rarified atmosphere of cool climate wine production.
The historic Bangor property is located at Dunalley in the south-east corner of Tasmania, where seven generations of the Dunbabin family have managed this striking coastal landscape, carefully balancing farming and conservation.
Growing up not far from Adelaide's historic Magill Estate, Andrew Nugent was a likely candidate for a career in viticulture or oenology. But over the three decades that have passed since he graduated from Roseworthy College, the Bird in Hand co-founder and executive director has achieved much more than growing grapes and making wine.
When New Town's Southern Cross Joinery closed its doors for the last time in 1969, Hobart cabinetmaker Colin Walters bought land at Little Swanport on the East Coast and made a brand new start in farming. Breeding miniature stud Herefords and raising sheep came first. Growing olives came next.
One of Tasmania's earliest wine-growing ventures, Bream Creek Vineyard was first planted in 1974 to add volume to the Moorilla Estate portfolio, then under development by the Alcorso family. However, the coastal site proved very challenging for Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon, two late-ripening varieties which comprised much of the vineyard.
Craigie Knowe – at Cranbrook – is steeped in history. Long before it became known for the coast's oldest vineyard, the property was home to the pioneering Amos family, who arrived in Hobart in 1821. Its centrepiece today is a quaint colonial homestead, built around 1842 by James Amos.
Wild, spectacular and on the edge of an eco-system of international significance, The Hazards Vineyard at Apslawn is home base for the Brown Family Wine Group's Devil's Corner portfolio and popular cellar door.
Geoff Bull was a former newspaper photographer and abalone diver when he decided on a tree change and cleared 4ha of land not far from his home in Bicheno to establish what would become the East Coast's iconic Freycinet Vineyard. The year was 1979.
Gala Estate at Cranbrook is one of Tasmania's oldest family-owned landholdings, founded in 1821 by Scottish brothers Adam and John Amos. They sailed 30,000km to settle and pioneer the central East Coast. Today, 4000ha Gala (rhymes with 'valour') spans seven generations of custodianship.
Kelvedon Estate – south of Swansea – is located in one of the oldest farming districts in Australia. The 5300ha property was established in 1830 by Frances and Anna Maria Cotton, who brought Quaker ideals to the convict colony. Hard work and innovation soon brought an enviable reputation for fine superfine wool and beef cattle.