When Rohan and Julie Hirst won trophies and gold medals at January's 2021 Tasmanian Wine Show, it wasn't the first time that years of hard yakka had brought gold to Cabbage Tree Hill in Tasmania's beautiful Tamar Valley.
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In June 1877, William Dally, from nearby Middle Arm had done much the same thing.
Roaming the countryside in search of lost cattle, Dally made a chance discovery of a handful of gold nuggets, glistening amid the roots of a wind-blown tree.
Dally's find was to uncover the Tasmania Reef, the richest gold deposit found anywhere in Australia in the 1870s and 1880s.
It put Cabbage Tree Hill on the map.
Before the turn of the century, the nearby settlement of Brandy Creek would become Beaconsfield, Tasmania's third largest town.
There's still gold thereabouts.
The Hirsts, meanwhile, are happy to leave prospecting to others.
Right now, they're focussed on creating their own little bit of history on Cabbage Tree Hill.
And with their 2021 harvest just about to get underway on the three-hectare vineyard on Greens Beach Road, the couple believe they've done their darnedest to produce another crop of potential gold medal winners.
"We were really pleased with our success at this year's wine show," Rohan Hirst said.
"The winning wines were already really popular with cellar door visitors and sold out very quickly. It was a fantastic endorsement of our hopes and aspirations for this place. We see our vineyard as an expression of our desire to produce wines of elegance, purity and sophistication."
The property - along with the town of Beaconsfield itself - has a unique history.
During the goldrush era, a Chinese market garden occupied part of the 15ha landholding the couple bought in 2013 and 2014.
It straddled the banks of Brandy Creek, which then cut a path through the property, creating a watering hole for farm animals and local wildlife.
Rumour has it that years later, a horse racing track also formed part of the site.
Julie Hirst says that when the couple began planning the vineyard cellar door they subsequently opened in March 2019, the region's colourful past was always going to be a focal point within its four walls.
It's hardly surprising that the facility's wine paraphernalia now sits comfortably alongside carefully arranged framed prints of Beaconsfield's heydays.
A height-adjustable tasting table, with its hefty cast-iron and timber construction, provides the cellar door with a fitting centrepiece.
It honours the township's longstanding association with industry and technology.
"We really wanted to emphasise the history of the place as much as we could," Julie says.
Oddly enough, it was gold mining that first brought the vineyard owners together.
Julie says she spent much of her previous working life employed in Australia's oil and gas industries.
It was during a stint on the Western Australian goldfields that she encountered her future husband, then an employee of a power station located there.
"We eventually got a bit sick of the heat of WA and the Northern Territory and decided it was time to move," Rohan adds.
"Julie had family connections here, so we decided to settle in Tasmania."
In late 2015, the couple took their first steps in developing a small, quality-driven vineyard on their scruffy West Tamar site.
All manner of weeds, including gorse, blackberries and bracken fern, made way for plantings of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, raised locally by former Kreglinger viticulturist Bruce McCormack.
When the new vines set their first small crop of wine grapes in 2019, the couple decided not to harvest them.
They dropped them on the ground instead, hoping that an additional year spent creating vine architecture would really benefit the plants during subsequent vintages.
"Our 2020 crop was the first fruit we actually harvested from the vineyard," Rohan explains.
"It turned out our Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Rosé each won a gold medal and a trophy at this year's Tasmanian Wine Show. It was a really tough season with a lot of rain in 2020, but we still managed to have a very good quality crop. The judges said our award winners were stand-out wines with real intensity and power."
After a year interrupted by COVID-19 restrictions, the couple say 2021 has been an especially busy one at their vineyard cellar door.
Weddings, tour groups and music events have all provided small nuggets of joy for those who've come to soak up their special bit of local history.
Got much on this Easter?
2020 Cabbage Tree Hill Riesling $35
The Tamar Valley produces some of Tasmania's best Riesling wines and some varieties develop surprising power and intensity. If this inaugural release from Cabbage Tree Hill at Beaconsfield is any indication of future wine quality, another label may be added to that list of special sites.
Glowing gold-green in colour, the wine opens with powerful preserved lemon and lime aromas. Similar flavours follow on the palate to provide a potent, well-balanced dry white with excellent length and aftertaste.
Cellaring several years will add further complexity. Enjoy now in the autumn sunshine with a warm chicken salad.
PICK OF THE CROP
2017 Goaty Hill Family Select Chardonnay $48
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Goaty Hill's first vintage in the Tamar Valley. Vine age is important in producing premium wines, so it's small wonder the Kayena property is able to offer such an attractive range of products at cellar door.
This stylish, barrel-fermented Chardonnay is a cracker, a worthy successor to the outstanding 2017 flagship wine that won gold at the 2019 Tasmanian Wine Show.
The aromas are fabulous - struck match and candlewax; stone fruits and citrus. The palate is a knockout too - smooth and midweight; perfectly balanced and with real pizazz. This is Tamar at its best. Delicious.
www.goatyhill.com
2018 New Certan Pinot Noir $95
When Kreglinger Wines' Paul de Moor decided to establish a vine improvement program at Mount Pleasant in 2005, his neighbours in the suburbs must have thought he'd flipped his lid.
It turns out the CEO's move was a stroke of genius.
This dazzling wine, skilfully crafted by Jim Chatto, provides ample proof.
It is a wonderfully expressive Pinot Noir in aroma, flavour and texture - so appetisingly vibrant in red fruits you can enjoy it now, so enticing in its promise of future pleasures that you should keep it a decade.
Fragrant, juicy, savoury, it's a triumph of modern, cool climate viticulture.
- Examiner columnist Mark Smith wrote his first weekly Tasmanian wine column back in 1994. He continues to chart the successes of the state's small scale, cool climate wine industry with contributions to some of Australia's leading industry publications