After sour times, outlook is sparkling for Tasmanian winemakers

Following a horror year of coronavirus lockdowns and economic downturn, Tasmania’s wine industry is seeing green shoots of ­recovery.

Winemakers Jonathan Hughes, left, and brother Matthew at their winery Mewstone Wines in Flowerpot, Tasmania. Picture: Amy Brown

Following a horror year of coronavirus lockdowns and economic downturn, Tasmania’s wine industry is seeing green shoots of ­recovery, with significant new investment and fresh accolades.

The island state’s premium-­focused $200m industry, which had expanded in recent years, suffered more than most from lockdowns due to its reliance for sales on top-end restaurants, cellar doors and wine bars.

Wine Tasmania told The Australian sales had plummeted at least 30 per cent across the year, while some wineries’s sales fell as much as 90 per cent during the height of the lockdown.

However, the island’s high-value, low-volume wine sector adapted quickly, shifting to online and bottle-shop sales, while its low exposure to China for exports avoided further calamity.

Wine Tasmania chief Sheralee Davies said all businesses had survived the carnage — while new investment, as well as major award recognition, had created some positivity at year’s end.

“Some (wineries) have just managed to paddle through; others have been more bolshie or bullish and have continued to invest,” Ms Davies said.

“Some have actually taken the opportunity, while it has been quiet, to invest and expand their businesses.

“We have new cellar doors opening, cellar doors being renovated, new wineries being built, some new vineyards going in and some really strong investment from wine businesses.”

One of these is relative newcomer Mewstone Wines, nestled on the banks of the D’Entrecasteaux Channel in the picturesque hamlet of Flowerpot, south of Hobart. Brothers Matthew and Jonathan Hughes, who also make the Hughes & Hughes range of wines, suffered a 90 per cent drop in sales when COVID-19 hit in late March and April just as they were due to begin construction of a multi-million-dollar, 100-tonne winery and cellar door.

“Earlier in the year, everything looked very dire and we were worried,” said Matthew Hughes. “It was a major concern.”

However, while restaurant sales dried up, the brothers, like others in the trade, quickly shifted focus to bottle shops, doing a roaring trade as wine lovers stocked up for their home isolation.

“Tassie has a lot of cool boutique bottle shops, so it didn’t end up being as diabolical as it looked,” Mr Hughes said.

After years of planning, the brothers decided to push ahead with the winery and cellar door development, despite the timing.

“If we hadn’t spent three or four years in planning, and scraping pennies to get that off the ground, maybe we would have pulled the pin,” Mr Hughes said.

The new winery is due to open in March, while the business was last month bolstered by having its 2019 Hughes & Hughes Lees Aged Chardonnay listed in Halliday’s Top 100 Wines.

Sparkling wine producer Jansz is also investing millions in a new, very large winery at Penna, in the Coal River Valley, northeast of Hobart.

National and global awards have meanwhile been rolling in for the state’s wines in recent weeks, bolstering hopes of renewed sales and solidifying the ­island’s reputation for quality.

House of Arras beat the French at their own game in being named top sparkling in Decanter’s top 100 wines, while Tolpuddle Vineyard’s Chardonnay 2018, from the Coal River Valley, won five trophies at the Inter­national Wine Challenge.