Australia

Tasmania

Australia wine regions

About Tasmania

Tasmania is Australia's coolest premium wine region, an island state at 41-43 degrees south with growing conditions closer to Champagne than the mainland. The whole island is one GI on paper, but in practice the wine lives in seven pockets: the Tamar Valley and Pipers River around Launceston, the East Coast running south from Bicheno, the Coal River Valley and Derwent Valley near Hobart, the Huon Valley further south, and the small but ambitious North West around Devonport. Sparkling is the calling card - Tasmania quietly supplies the base wines for House of Arras and Jansz and most of the mainland's serious sparkling houses. Pinot Noir is the rising star, pushed by Tolpuddle, Bay of Fires, Stefano Lubiana and Pooley into Burgundy-comparison territory.

Australia wine regions

Vintages

40 · 2005–2024

Rating:

95+

90-94

85-89

80-84

<80

PeakReadyHold

Year	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005
Red
White

Outstanding Tasmania Vintages

The best recent vintages rated excellent or exceptional.

Red

2024

Ready

95Exceptional

Cool, even season with very good flavour development across Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and sparkling base. Yields back to normal after the small 2023.

2023

Ready

93Excellent

Cool and late, with small yields but excellent natural acidity and fine, perfumed Pinot Noir. A classic Tasmanian sparkling vintage.

2022

Ready

94Excellent

Long, mild ripening produced taut, balanced Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with serious structure. A growers' vintage with low disease pressure.

2021

Ready

96Exceptional

Widely seen as one of the best Tasmanian vintages of the modern era. Even ripening, generous yields, and outstanding wines across Pinot, Chardonnay, Riesling, and sparkling base.

2020

Ready

92Excellent

Warmer and drier than recent norms, with Tasmania largely spared the smoke taint that hit mainland regions during the Black Summer bushfires. Generous, fruit-forward Pinot and Chardonnay.

2019

Ready

93Excellent

Dry, sunny growing season with low disease pressure. Pinot Noir shows ripe red fruit with classic Tasmanian acidity; Chardonnay is concentrated and long.

2018

Ready

95Exceptional

A standout vintage. Warm and even, with high quality across all varieties and a particularly strong year for sparkling base and Chardonnay.

2017

Ready

92Excellent

Cool and late vintage that suited sparkling perfectly. Still wines are more delicate and aromatic, with fine acidity.

2016

Ready

93Excellent

Warm, dry, and early. Concentrated Pinot Noir with ripe tannins and excellent ageing potential.

2015

Ready

94Excellent

Even, mild season producing fragrant, balanced Pinot Noir and tightly built Chardonnay. A benchmark for the era.

White

2024

Ready

95Exceptional

Cool, even season with very good flavour development across Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and sparkling base. Yields back to normal after the small 2023.

2023

Ready

93Excellent

Cool and late, with small yields but excellent natural acidity and fine, perfumed Pinot Noir. A classic Tasmanian sparkling vintage.

2022

Ready

94Excellent

Long, mild ripening produced taut, balanced Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with serious structure. A growers' vintage with low disease pressure.

2021

Ready

96Exceptional

Widely seen as one of the best Tasmanian vintages of the modern era. Even ripening, generous yields, and outstanding wines across Pinot, Chardonnay, Riesling, and sparkling base.

2020

Ready

92Excellent

Warmer and drier than recent norms, with Tasmania largely spared the smoke taint that hit mainland regions during the Black Summer bushfires. Generous, fruit-forward Pinot and Chardonnay.

2019

Ready

93Excellent

Dry, sunny growing season with low disease pressure. Pinot Noir shows ripe red fruit with classic Tasmanian acidity; Chardonnay is concentrated and long.

2018

Ready

95Exceptional

A standout vintage. Warm and even, with high quality across all varieties and a particularly strong year for sparkling base and Chardonnay.

2017

Ready

92Excellent

Cool and late vintage that suited sparkling perfectly. Still wines are more delicate and aromatic, with fine acidity.

2016

Ready

93Excellent

Warm, dry, and early. Concentrated Pinot Noir with ripe tannins and excellent ageing potential.

2015

Ready

94Excellent

Even, mild season producing fragrant, balanced Pinot Noir and tightly built Chardonnay. A benchmark for the era.

Wine pockets

Climate

Cool maritimeLong ripeningLike ChampagneVariable microclimates

The Roaring Forties set the rules: cool maritime air year-round, a long gentle ripening arc, and enough wind that site selection is everything. The eastern half of the island sits in the rain shadow of the highlands, so pockets like the Coal River Valley are among the driest vineyard areas in the country, sunny, cool and slow all at once.

Terroir

BasaltDoleriteSandy loamSub-regional diversity

Jurassic dolerite caps much of the island, one of the largest exposures of the rock on earth, weathering into well-drained soils on the slopes beneath. The pockets differ, red basalt in parts of the north, sandy loams over clay in the southeastern river valleys, and that variety is why a single GI can hold so many distinct wine identities.

Typical Aromas

CitrusGreen appleWhite peachSea sprayStrawberryToasted brioche

Explore the aroma wheel