European settlement along the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and into the Huon Valley began in the early 1800s as whalers, fishers and small-scale farming operations moved out of Hobart Town in search of sheltered waterways and productive landholding. The Huon provided river access deep into the southern interior, and by the mid-19th century the region was alive with boatbuilding, timber milling and fruit growing.
The geology is dominated by Permian mudstone and sandstone overlain in places by Jurassic dolerite and fertile river alluvium. The variety of soils found here – from loamy river flats to stony slopes – are well-suited to mixed farming, orcharding and viticulture.
The Huon Valley and D'Entrecasteaux Channel made major contributions to Tasmania's international renown as The Apple Isle, but when export markets collapsed in the 1960s, many businesses foundered. Surviving orchards often embraced organic methods and other specialty crops. Innovation and diversification have seen the emergence of artisan craft and food producers, aquaculture, viticulture and a wide range of eco-focused tourism ventures.
The very cool maritime climate in these parts offers excellent growing conditions for finely-crafted Chardonnay, aromatic Pinot Noir and expressive white grape varieties including Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris and Riesling.
Vineyards dotted here and there are all small-scale and privately owned. In total, they accounted for just 1.2 percent of Tasmania's total wine grape harvest in 2024.
But small is beautiful.
Few places flatter to deceive like modern wineries. With all that high-tech equipment and gleaming stainless steel, they're quick to promote the view that winemaking is a manufacturing process. Nothing could be further from the truth, say former South Australian winemakers Duncan Ferguson and Susana Fernandez.
Andrea Kitto and Jamie Cowen had a deep and abiding love of their small bush block and former dairy farm at Sandfly – south of Hobart – so when they planted Pinot Noir and found the wine made their hearts race they just had to plant more. That was back in 2004.
The perfect match of grape variety and vineyard site is the viticultural equivalent of a marriage made in heaven. Few winemakers take the principle more seriously than those producing Pinot Noir. It took Jim and Daisy Chatto more than six years to find a site that ticked every box on their shopping list.
Five Bob Farm at Birchs Bay in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel has been in the Read family since 1960, when it was purchased and developed as a mixed farm with orchards, vegetables, and native bushland. Between 1970 and 2000, financial stresses saw this southern end of the Channel experience the loss of almost all commercial agricultural activity.
Born into a family of apple orchardists, Terry Bennett became a grower himself. But it wasn't long before restricted access to the Common Market caused him to re-think his future. The Tasmanian Government helped him remove trees at Ranelagh to graze cattle. Third time lucky, Bennett and his wife Rosemary tried planting grape vines in 1992.
Kate Hill is living proof that growing a wine business takes time. After graduating with a BSc in botany and biochemistry, she tried marketing and tourism before cellar door work led to a post-grad degree in winemaking. Vintage stints at home and abroad (Napa, Maipo and Rhone Valleys) concluded with four years in Griffith, New South Wales.
All things being equal, Johnny Hughes would be making wine in Barolo now and one of the State's cutting edge wine businesses would not exist. But that's not the way of the world. When he had his chance to move there permanently, the ambitious young winemaker could not get the permits he needed.
When optometrist John Rees and his wife Joy established Nandroya in 1989-1990, their vision was to see the viticultural potential of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel realised in their life times. It was a vision on a grand scale. Still recovering from the loss of its apple industry during the 1970s, the district was home to few vineyards in the late...
There's a moment in life when all pieces fall together into a completed jigsaw puzzle. For Daniel and Caroline Lamont, that moment came in 2012 when they exchanged wedding vows at Resolution Vineyard, on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Less than five years later, the couple were signing property deeds for the tiny pocket handkerchief.
It's been 15 years since US author and film maker Bernie Harberts visited Tasmania. Altogether inauspicious, his journey included one seemingly ordinary but critical moment. The inveterate traveller left a handwritten note at Cygnet's Red Velvet Lounge – Sailor Seeks Horse.