Tamar’s growing wine region | Photos

As Tasmania’s reputation as a food and wine destination grows, wineries in Northern Tasmania are offering more and more to enhance their visitors’ experiences.

Statistics from the state’s tourism bureaus are consistently showing that people are visiting Tasmania more frequently, staying for longer, and spending more money.

While, sure, each vineyard is looking to attract custom for themselves rather than their neighbour, they are also working in unison for the greater good: to bring more people into the area.

The Sunday Examiner explored three different vineyards to see what they are bringing to the table.

When Doug and Corrie Cox took on a vineyard in the rolling hills of Sidmouth, people told them they were crazy.

For 15 to 20 years, Swinging Gate was a “hidden” vineyard, owned by neighbouring big-name players and supplying fruit to make some of the state’s best-known drops.

“It had no cellar door, no label. The fruit went into good wines, it was sold to anyone who wanted it,” Mr Cox said.

But it never had an identity of its own.

Mr Cox said the vines were originally planted by Don Buchanan, who is believed to be the first professionally trained winemaker in Tasmania.

It first opened in 1985, under the helm of Buchanan.

He sold the plot, and it fell into anonymity.

Until the Coxs took it on in 2014.

“I know most of the producers in the region. They all told me I was crazy and to not go near it,” Mr Cox said, when they were in the process of buying the site.

While the first year on the ground was spent bringing the vines back under control, in 2015 they produced 5000 bottles, and celebrated the 30^th vintage of the vines.

“Old vines are really good, because you get a more intense flavour, so we’re really happy with our old vines,” Mr Cox said.

When they undertook the venture, they aspired to do something different, both with their products and their cellar door.

Swinging Gate proudly presents Tasmania’s only sparkling sauvignon blanc, Mr Cox said, and added that it was an idea floated to him five years ago, and one that he had never forgotten.

“It’s something that you can do with sauv blanc to give it a new life,” he said.

The vineyard also grows one of two frontignac plantings in the state.

“We make a really different style. Normally it is a sweet, or dessert wine. But we’ve done a dry white with it,” Mr Cox said.

With the “unique wine” box ticked, the couple moved onto their cellar door experience.

They transformed part of the machinery shed that houses their cellar door into a day spa, where Mrs Cox offers pampering treatments and massage using her hand-made products.

“This used to be where the tractors were parked,” Mrs Cox said.

“We have hosted bridal days here, where the girls can have wine tastings next door while the bride has a treatment done.”

The transformed shed, throughout the spa and cellar door, is rustic but personal, with family heirlooms and local knick-knacks scattered throughout.

The couple recognised that they still have a long road ahead of them, but they’re also proud of how far they have already come – doubling their bottle output from 2015 to 2016, for example.

“It was rundown for sometime,” Mr Cox said of the vineyard.

“But it’s definitely getting some love now.”

While the token cheese platter has been an offering at wineries for some time, the tide is changing in the Tamar Valley. 

Longford eatery Hubert & Dan has just announced that they will be moving to Tamar Ridge Cellar Door at Rosevears, in March. 

In the past 12 months there has been a spark in wineries either teaming up with restaurants, or starting their own food ventures.

The Sunday Examiner found its appetite at two, quite different, wine and food destinations.

Matt Adams is all about embracing the small, and the local, at his eatery.

Adams opened Timbre at Velo Wines, Legana, in July last year.

“I wanted a restaurant that was a bit more fun, and accessible for everyone,” Adams said.

“We take the wine glasses off the table, you can make it what you want it. You can come in and have a snack, that’s cool. You can come in and have a grilled cheese, it’s no big deal.

“But you can also still come in and have a progressive degustation meal.”

Adams has worked in restaurants across the Launceston region – including Mud, Fee & Me, and Josef Chromy Wines – but he said he was happy to be getting back to basics, and to being “the little guy”.

At the heart of the kitchen is a woodfired oven, which dictates the way the menu runs.

“It’s different every day. Some days the fire wins. It’s a real cook-by-feel sort of thing,” Adams said.

One of the key things Adams said he wanted to do when he established Timbre was to bring the community on board.

A couple of months ago, he started a bartering program via the eatery’s Facebook page, where those in the community with excess produce could bring it into the restaurant in exchange for a coffee, or a voucher.

“It’s taken off. We probably get a drop of produce a day from locals,” Adams said.

“Locals are coming in, they feel like they’re part of the restaurant, we get this fresh produce that you can’t buy anywhere else, and the fresh produce inspires creativity in the kitchen.”

It’s open for lunch daily, but the jewel in Timbre’s crown is its Friday and Saturday night “tea time” services.

The tea time ethos is simple: a $40 banquet that’s designed to be shared and enjoyed.

This weekend, about 70 per cent of the produce that’s going into the menu has been gathered through the bartering system.

Iron Pot Bay Vineyard at Rowella opened its cellar door cafe six weeks ago.

Despite its fanfare-free opening, owner Julieanne Mani said the response was “blowing my mind”.

Under chef Sam Adamson, the cafe is open for lunch daily, and showcases local produce at its best.

“I’m no cook at all, so I said to Sam 'We want local produce, and food the complements our wine. The rest is up to you’,” Mrs Mani said.

What chef Adamson came up with was offerings of lamb pies (the most popular), ploughman’s platters, hearty rye sandwiches, and home-made cakes.

Mrs Mani said she had been pleased to not only see visitors dining in the cafe, but also West Tamar residents.

“It just showed the need for somewhere to eat down here,” she said.

While Mrs Mani said it was good for the winery to be offering a point of different, to make its cellar door stand out from others, it also worked to enhance the reputation of the Valley’s wine route in general.

“The good thing is that our wines are all very different,” Mrs Mani said.

“We share a boundary with Holm Oak next door. We have different wine makers, a different micro-climate.”

Mrs Mani and her husband bought Iron Pot Bay Vineyard nearly four years ago.

In that short time, she said she had seen the valley’s reputation as a wine hot spot grow.

“It quietens down over winter, sure, but each winter is getting busier than the last,” she said.