WINE HISTORY

Vines were first planted in Australia's smallest wine state in 1788. 

Then called Van Diemen's Land, the island received a visit from Lieutenant William Bligh, en route to Tahiti. On August 30th, the master mariner anchored at Bruny Island's Adventure Bay, where a selection of botanical specimens including nine grapevines were planted. 

In 1792, Bligh and the crew of The Bounty returned to Adventure Bay, to discover that only a single apple tree had survived four years of neglect.

An embryonic wine industry commenced in Tasmania when Hobart Town's Bartholomew Broughton began turning Pinot Noir - 'black cluster' - into sparkling wine almost two decades before Johann Gramp planted vines in South Australia's Barossa Valley. 

Broughton had been transported to Tasmania - Van Diemen's Land - as an English convict in 1819. By 1823, he was the owner of Prospect Farm in what was later to become the Hobart suburb of New Town.

Broughton's first wine from his vineyard was advertised for sale in 1827.

The following year, the budding vigneron died suddenly while still in his early 40s. Prospect Farm then passed through a number of owners - including Melbourne founder Charles Swanson - before its vines were eventually grubbed out.

Meanwhile, cuttings from a handful of other sites around Van Diemen's Land provided planting material for the first vineyards in Victoria and South Australia in the 1830s.The weak viticultural spark that smouldered on Australia's wine island from the 1820s proved to be short-lived. The discovery of gold and a mass exodus of free settlers to central Victoria during the 1850s left many vineyards abandoned. The few that remained viable were ill-equipped to battle against a strong local temperance movement and government bans on distillation and fortified wine.

Apart from an ill-fated venture on Maria Island during the 1880s, Tasmanians would have to wait more than half a century to see grapevines on the landscape once again.

The planting of sites near Launceston (La Provence, 1956) and Hobart (Moorilla Estate, 1958) ushered in a new era of viticulture in the State. A new era, and a new premium red variety as well.

Pinot Noir ('black cluster') may well have been the variety first planted in Tasmania but its history on the Australian mainland has been largely hidden by the mists of time until the past 30 years or so. 

In 1997, the variety represented just 2.2 percent of the country's total vineyard area. In Tasmania, it accounted for close to 40 percent of the State's vineyard area.

That noted, the pace of industry development has been relatively slow. For example, in 1988, Tasmania's wine industry amounted to barely 180ha of vineyard plantings. Today, there are some 300 vineyards comprising more than 2500ha of vines.

Although their total vintage output accounts for less than one percent of Australia's wine grape harvest, Tasmanian producers contribute to 12-15 percent of Australia's premium wine sales. A significant number of national and international players such as Treasury Wine Estates include Tasmanian wine grapes among their premium brands.

Visit Wine Tasmania for further details on Tasmania's place in national and international wine markets.