European settlement in Tasmania's North East began in the early to mid-1800s, as settlers pushed inland from Launceston in search of farmland. The region's rolling hills, dense forests, and rich soils—particularly around Lilydale, Lebrina, and Pipers River—offered good conditions for mixed farming once land was cleared.
Lilydale and Lebrina began as agricultural outposts, with rich, well-drained clay loams derived from weathered dolerite and basalt supporting families grazing sheep and dairy cattle, together with small-scale cropping.
Around Pipers River, deep, fertile volcanic and sedimentary soils supported orchards and vegetable crops such as potatoes and peas. Further north, towards Pipers Brook and Bridport, mudstone-derived duplex profiles (loamy topsoils over clay subsoils) become more evident.
In 1974, brothers David and Andrew Pirie planted Pipers Brook Vineyard. Their innovative approach was modelled on close-planted vineyards in northern France. For Andrew Pirie – who subsequently completed Australia's first PhD in Viticulture – the development would mark the start of a 50-year career in the Tasmanian wine industry.
A year after the Pirie brothers, a Sydney company that included Tamar Valley wine pioneer Graham Wiltshire established 20ha of vines to begin Heemskerk Vineyards.
Ambitious - perhaps even audacious - these twin pioneering endeavours helped launch Tasmania's 21st century reputation as a prominent cool climate wine region.
With the 1980s came the establishment of much smaller, family-based operations, including Bellingham Vineyard (Targett), Delamere Vineyard (Richardson), St Patricks (Gawith), Rochecombe (Rochaix/Edgecombe) and Dalrymple Vineyard (Sundstrup/Mitchell).
Meanwhile, French-born-and-trained winemaker Dominique Portet anticipated the district's future as a sparkling wine region of world renown, planting Taltarni Vineyards' Clover Hill Vineyard at Lebrina in 1986.
In 2025, vineyards in the North East produced 16 percent of Tasmania's total wine grape harvest. More than 42 percent of the island's harvest that year found its way into sparkling wine production.
In addition to completing Australia's first PhD in viticulture, Sydney-born Andrew Pirie transformed Tasmania's modern-day winescape with the founding of the State's iconic Pipers Brook Vineyard in 1974. The company focused solely on table wine production before achieving instant success with a sparkling wine program developed some 20 years later.
Let's face it. We all hate spoilers. But standby for a doozy. There is no vineyard at the iconic Bay of Fires on Tasmania's East Coast. Never has been. Probably never will be. Bay of Fires Wines was established in 2001 by BRL Hardy as its flagship brand for premium, cool-climate Tasmanian wine.
Brook Eden straddles an ancient ridge of deep, free-draining volcanic basalt and gravelly soils, with Pipers Brook at the rear of the property and spring-fed wetlands at the front creating a unique microclimate ideally suited to classic European wine varieties that require cool growing conditions for slow ripening and vibrant flavour development.
Clover Hill became Tasmania's first purpose-built, traditional method sparkling wine vineyard in 1986, when it was established by US-based John Goelet, then owner of Victoria's Taltarni Vineyards and California's Clos du Val.
Dalrymple Vineyards was established in 1987 by oncologist Dr Bertel Sundstrup, along with his wife Anne and sister-in-law Jill Mitchell. The trio drew inspiration from Anne and Jill's father, Bill Mitchell, who planted vines at Blackwall in the Tamar Valley in the 1960s and called it Tamarway.
Delamere Vineyard – near Pipers Brook in North East Tasmania – was established in 1982 by Dallas and Dr Richard Richardson, who recognised the region's potential for cool-climate viticulture and were assisted in their move from Sydney by Dr Andrew Pirie. The couple planted 3.3ha of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and made their first wines in 1986.
Ed Carr was a microbiologist and chemist at the outset of his working life. He soon passed up his job in the dairy industry for a better paid position in a winery. That morphed into a 'Mr Fix-It' role with a nearby sparkling wine producer. By 1994, Carr had moved into a key sparkling winemaker role with BRL Hardy.
Tasmania's first sparkling wine was released amid rapturous acclaim. How and when ex-convict Bartholomew Broughton produced 'grape wine, made in imitation of Champaigne' – according to Hobart newspapers in 1827 – is a mystery. The greater mystery is that consumers would have to wait until 1991 for the next home-grown sparkling to appear.
When vines were first planted in the North East, Labor's Gough Whitlam was PM, 'High Voltage' AC/DC were just emerging, and big city studios were trialling colour television test patterns. It was 1974. Seismic changes were on the way. Now 50 years old, Pipers Brook Vineyard figures among Australia's first cool climate vineyards. Genuinely cool.
Life moves in mysterious ways. When former Lake Leather business owners Ian and Robyn Lake purchased a derelict 10ha farm at Lalla in early 2016, they discovered a solitary grapevine. In the midst of a rambling blackberry patch. It sparked their vision for viticulture on the property.