Tasmania

Within Australia, Tasmania is unique owing to its cool ‘European-style’ climate, which allows it to produce a range of wines and foods that do not do as well on the Australian mainland. Symbolic of this are apples, with Tasmania widely recognized as the ‘Apple Isle’.

Tasmania is often considered remote by the standards of the Australian mainland and this was seemingly true even of its Aboriginal history. The people living on the island of Tasmania being the last remaining members of peoples who had been part of the earliest migrations of mankind across the world and into Australia. But as far as European exploration was concerned, Tasmania was in fact among the earliest parts of Australia to be discovered, beginning with Abel Tasman, in 1642, who named the island Van Diemen's Land, after Antony van Diemen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Afterwards a series of visits by the French and British took place around the end of the 18th century, including Bruny d'Entrecasteaux in 1793, Bass and Flinders in 1798, and Nicolas Baudin in 1802.

Soon after the visit by Baudin, the new British settlement at Sydney Cove sent out a group to found a second penal colony at what became Hobart in 1804. With the help of convict labour, European settlements spread quickly, with the usual consequences for the original inhabitants who were soon reduced in numbers and restricted to the most remote regions. By 1830, the Tasmanian government even made an attempt to round up all the remaining indigenous people in what was called the ‘Black Line’, a sweep across the entire island. This was a failure, with only two killed and two captured. However, the aborigines themselves could see they would not be left alone and by 1835 most had surrendered to George Augustus Robinson and been moved to Flinders Island, where few survived for very long.

Tasmanian’s history is also spotted with a number of daring escapes on the part of its convicts, the most well known being a group from Macquarie Harbour who captured the brig Frederick they had been building as part of their incarceration and sailed it all the way to Chile! But in most people’s mind it is the notorious Port Arthur, south of Hobart, which remains as the most graphic symbol of Tasmania’s convict past. A past so horrid that the very name Van Diemen's Land became too shameful for the residents to bear and in 1856 the island’s name was officially changed to Tasmania in an effort to forget.

Naturally Tasmania’s history is not all convicts and depravity, and in fact Tasmania has a number of major firsts to its credit. In 1846, for example, Tasmania was the first Australian colony to make laws protecting its native animals. Unfortunately, this did not save the so called Tasmanian Tiger (once referred to as the ‘pouched hyena’), for which the government actually paid a bounty. And again in 1868, Tasmania was the first Australian colony to introduce compulsory education.

Another first, one that was to create unforeseen controversy in the future, was the 1895 electrification of Launceston with the help of Tasmania’s first hydro-electric power station. Tasmania, or its notorious Hydro-Electric Commission, felt it was on a good thing and in 1978 planned to dam the Gordon and Franklin rivers. This sparked off a period of controversy that only ended in 1982 when the Federal Government declared these rivers a World Heritage Area.

Fermentation has a long history in Tasmania and the Cascade and Boag’s Breweries have been operating on the island since at least 1823. Wine played its part also in the early years of Tasmania but faded out as changing drinking habits reduced wine consumption or left only heavy wines difficult to produce in the cool Tasmanian climate. This climate is cool only by Australian standards, as it nevertheless has a summer hot enough to make most European winemakers blench. Nevertheless, Tasmania’s climate has average temperatures that can be considered cool and this has enabled the Tasmanian wine region to produce excellent sparking wines.

Despite its wide climatic and geographic variations, Tasmania is officially a single wine region, but all of these variations are well within a cool climate zone. Tasmania’s climate is a moderate maritime one, much influenced by winds coming off the Southern Ocean to the west. These cool things down in both summer and winter, and in general Tasmanian’s mild springs and summers, and relatively warm autumns with cool nights, make for slow ripenings that increase the flavours of any grape.

Varieties grown in Tasmania are Pinot Noir (44%), Chardonnay (28%), Riesling (9%), Sauvignon Blanc (8%), and Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Gewürztraminer (all less than 5%). Tasmania is also a producer of apple ciders, fruit wines, liqueurs and malt whisky. Of course some say these never ceased production in hidden corners of the island but we are talking of licensed products.

Most vineyards in the Tasmanian wine region are small, which allows for a focus on quality. Those that have cellar doors are beautifully designed, with great views and excellent restaurants; restaurants that Tasmania finds easy to supply due to its great range of local foods, both by land and by sea. Crayfish and abalone, mussels and oysters, flounder and squid, can all be pulled from the seas surrounding its coasts. While from Tasmania’s rivers can be brought trout and other freshwater fish. The name the ‘Apple Isle’ is well earned and much fruit still comes from Tasmania’s orchards, including such apple varieties as Fuji, Jonathon and Cox Orange Pippin, as well as raspberries, strawberries, apricots and cherries.

Worth a special mention is Tasmania’s dairy industry, which supplies more than milk, helping to make nearly every type of cheese imaginable, washed rinds, blues, camemberts and bries to name a few, not to mention supplying the Cadbury chocolate factory!

Tasmania has much to offer in terms of cool climate wines with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling predominating. Other varieties, such as Pinot Gris and Gerwurtztraminer are also very successful and create intense, strong flavoured wines.