‘Excellent year’: Record-breaking harvest for Tasmanian wine producers

A Tassie vintage? Don’t wine if I do. Vino connoisseurs can expect an excellent 2025 vintage from local producers. Read why it was such a good year >>>

Winemaker Nick Glaetzer. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Tasmanian wine producers marked a record-breaking harvest in 2025, enjoying a colossal yield of high-quality grapes.

A record 23,002 tonnes of grapes were harvested, equivalent to 20 million bottles of wine.

Wine Tasmania chief executive officer Sheralee Davies said Tassie growers and producers worked hard to be top wine producers.

“It’s good news for anyone that likes good Tasmanian wine,” she said.

“It’s been an excellent year in terms of quality and it’s also been our largest vintage on record.”

Tasmanian wine has been growing in popularity with not only locals devoted to the home-grown vino but also those on the mainland and international markets.

“Tasmania may only be a small wine region, producing 1.2 per cent of the country’s total wine, but it represents 6.5 per cent of the national value and is ranked the fifth most valuable wine region based on its farmgate value,” Ms Davies said.

Ms Davies said makers can’t keep up with international demand, with the reputation for Tasmanian wine growing.

“We haven’t had enough wine to go around and we probably still won’t have enough wine,” she said.

“We’re still very small but having a decent sized harvest means we’ll be able to satisfy more people that love Tasmanian wine.”

Wine drinkers are gravitating to higher quality wines, standing Tasmanian producers in good stead to capitalise on the demand.

The 2025 “record vintage” is an increase of 37 per cent on the 2024 season and almost double that of 2023.

This is due to advantageous conditions like slightly warmer than average weather, but the island’s maritime and southerly-influenced climate moderated temperatures, and rain fell at the right time.

Growers were even able to start harvesting earlier in 2025.

Ms Davies said the appetite for Tasmanian wine was also a boost for tourism, with a lot of producers and microbusinesses only selling from the cellar door.

“It’s quite a good time for us to be able to get more targeted export markets but also use our presence to encourage people to come and visit this amazing island,” she said.

“We Tasmanians are always going to be spoiled for choice because we can experience the full depth and diversity of our wine producers right around the island.”

Vintage time at Stefano Lubiana. Picture: Martin Turmine

Nick Glaetzer, who owns Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers, along with wife Sally, said his harvest was strong this year thanks to good spring weather.

He said a record harvest, even for a small slice of the national market, meant getting Tassie wine in front of more people.

“There’s been a lot of investment in expanding vineyards over the last 10 years in Tasmania,” he said.

Winemaker Nick Glaetzer. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“We grow and make the best pinot noir in Australia down here so there is a lot of national and international interest.”

Mr Glaetzer said the Tasmanian wine industry was small and strong but also growing sustainably.

“We’re a market-led industry down here, so we’re not making wine for the sake of it and wondering why we can’t sell it,” he said.

“We’re going to market first and get the demand and supply it over longer terms. We’ll grow but it’ll be a sustainable growth.”