One of the best things about wine is that you can drink it any time of year (or day, *hic*). A wine tour through lutruwita/Tasmania, however, is a different story. Depending on the season, you’re likely to get a wildly different experience – while the small state is a single wine region, its four main growing areas (North West, Tamar, East Coast and Southern) may as well be on different planets. Don’t worry, we got you. Here’s a guide to the best Tassie’s wine country has to offer, all year around.
Autumn means harvest, the busiest time of the year for wine folk anywhere. It’s also an exciting time to hit up wineries with onsite cellar doors, as there’ll be plenty of action as grapes come in. Tassie’s annual Southern Open Vineyards Weekend takes place on the first weekend of March in 2023. Around 40 producers across the Derwent Valley, Coal River Valley and Huon Valley/D’Entrecasteaux Channel throw open the doors for tastings, tours and more.
Tasmania is a cool-climate region, so it gets mighty chilly come winter. With visitors mostly sticking to the urban centres of nipaluna/Hobart and Launceston, many of the state’s cellar doors close for at least part of the season, so it pays to call ahead. In Bicheno on Tasmania’s East Coast, The Farm Shed operates as tasting room and retail for the region’s 25 or so wineries (many of whom don’t have cellar doors anyway), making it a good place to catch up if you get rained out.
Hello, spring! The birds are singing, the buds are bursting, and we’ve hit peak season for winery hopping. Too cold to swim, to warm to ski, may as well go for drinks! Great Eastern Wine Week (now a 10+ day festival) is held in September each year; put 10–12 November 2023 in your diary for Effervescence Tasmania, an epic sparkling wine festival up north. Both feature stacks of boutique events from long lunches to workshops.
Summer means wedding season, so be prepared to share your winery visit with a bachelor/ette party or 20. Worth it, though, as this is the peak time for outdoor dining, concerts and road trips – all winery specialties. The Tasmanian Wine Festival returns to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens this summer (technically it’s in March this year, but it’ll still be hot) and Launceston hosts Festivale in February, it’s one of the best food and wine festivals in the state.
