Spring in the Vines: Southern Tassie vineyards’ big play for crown

“When we started in 1999, you couldn’t even get Tasmanian wine at Salamanca”: It’s been a great success story for our state and now this region is set to take a huge leap forward.

“When we started in 1999, you couldn’t even get Tasmanian wine at Salamanca.”

So says winemaker Gill Christian, who, alongside husband Todd, founded Penna’s Brinktop Vineyard in 2017.

Back when they opened their first vineyard last millennium, “everybody was just one hectare, now they’re planting 100 hectares just down the road for us”.

Tasmania’s industry, she said, is on the cusp of taking its next great leap forward, with the increasing production of more “elegant” wines, such as those with a lower alcohol content.

“Tasmania’s wine industry is a huge success story,” Ms Christian said.

However, up until now, the rush has been unevenly spread, with northern Tasmania, led by pioneers such as Josef Chromy and Mark Semmens, putting itself on the map in a way that has so far eluded southern Tasmania.

That may not be the case for much longer, as Spring in the Vines returns from Friday–Sunday after a successful debut in 2021.

The event, organised by a reformed Wine South Committee, will see a suite of tastings, vineyard tours and events across 40 vineyards in the Coal River, Huon and Derwent valleys, Hobart and the South-East, and the D’Entrecasteaux Channel Coast.

Gill and Todd Christian, of Penna's Brinktop Vineyard. Picture: Supplied

Some of them, said committee secretary Nathalie Urbain, throw open their doors to the public very rarely.

“It’s quite important for smaller players who don’t run tasting all the times or have the quantity yet to sell in bulk retail, but are still extremely high quality, to get that exposure,” she said.

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“The north is very well-known, so it’s nice for players in south to feel part of a separate community.

“Wine is becoming more competitive as a whole Tasmanian region, so this is to set ourselves apart from the north where the big players are.”

Ms Christian said this would be her second year participating in the festival – Hobart favourite La Sardina Loca will again be returning to Brinktop to serve paella among the vines on Sunday.

“We’ll be debuting our first ever syrah, we grow the fruit ourselves,” she said.

“We’re super happy, all winemakers say that good wine starts in the vineyard.

“The fruit was great, it was in the barrel for 14 months to really mature, so it’s a lovely, medium-bodied spicy syrah.”