Why Tasmanian wine producers are celebrating

Tasmanian wine producers are celebrating a combination of exceptional quality, strong value and record-breaking yields in 2025.

Tasmania’s wine grape growers managed variable seasonal conditions to harvest an impressive 23,002 tonnes of grapes - equating to about 20 million bottles of wine. This represents a 37% increase on 2024 and is almost double the disappointing 2023 vintage.

Sheralee Davies, CEO of Wine Tasmania, welcomed the 2025 vintage results and recognised the efforts of the island’s grape growers and winemakers, many of whom are small family businesses.

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

The 2024/25 growing season was slightly warmer than average, but the island’s maritime and southerly-influenced climate helped moderate temperatures, while timely rainfall was received.

Harvesting began earlier than usual in 2025, with this earlier, condensed and larger vintage applying some pressure to winery capacity. Despite some challenges including localised frost and hail, Tasmania’s viticulturists reported good quality cool-climate fruit.

“This record vintage comes at a time when Tasmania is building on strong demand for its wine, including undertaking a new export market program," Davies said.."While global wine consumption is decreasing, people are prioritising and preferrencing higher quality wines, such as those Tasmania produces.”

The full 2025 Tasmanian wine grape vintage report can be accessed at winetasmania.com.au/vintage2025.

Image: Dalrymple vineyards

European vineyards worst hit by climate change

Europe’s wine regions have experienced the most significant climate shifts among global viticultural areas, a new study published in PLOS Climate reveals.

The Public Library of Science is a non-profit organization that publishes academic journals.

The research, conducted by a team of scientists led by Elizabeth Wolkovich, analysed climate exposure across 749 globally-distributed vineyard locations using over 500 grape-growing regions. 

It found that European wine regions have recorded the most extreme increases in warming metrics, particularly in the frequency of hot days and maximum temperatures during the growing season, trace journal the drinks business reported.

The study assessed 10 climate metrics relevant to viticulture - including daily minimum, maximum and mean temperatures during budburst, the growing season and harvest, as well as the number of hot days exceeding 35°C. 

It compared recent climate conditions (1981–2020) against pre-industrial baselines (1901–1940) to quantify the effects of human-caused climate change on winegrowing.

Southern and western Europe showed the highest levels of climate exposure across nearly all metrics.

In particular, the number of extremely hot days in these regions increased by nearly five times compared to pre-industrial levels. The average temperature during the growing season has also risen by more than two standard deviations in key European vineyard areas.

The study found that while climate change is impacting all wine regions globally, the severity and nature of that exposure differ. 

For instance, North American regions generally saw lower relative increases in extreme temperatures and hot days than their European counterparts.

These warming trends present growing challenges for viticulture. 

Changes to average and extreme temperatures during the growing season can alter grape phenology, including earlier ripening and shifts in harvest timing, which in turn may affect grape composition, wine style and regional identity.

Although the study does not offer prescriptive adaptation strategies, the authors emphasise that these observed changes are consistent with anthropogenic climate change, and suggest that many of the world’s most historic and prestigious wine regions are already undergoing unprecedented climatic shifts.

The findings underscore the need for wine producers, particularly in Europe, to assess and implement long-term strategies to address evolving climate risks, including grape varietal selection, vineyard management adjustments, and potential shifts in regional production norms.

Image: Vineyards in Catalonia. Silvia Arellano, Scop.io 

Wine industry debates how to cope with extreme weather

Changing weather patterns are a challenge for everyone involved in the wine industry. 

The 2024 Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology will host a seminar on Managing Extreme Weather Conditions in Orange, NSW, on September 3-4 that will be webcast across Australia.

Following a year which saw numerous record-breaking climate extremes acrossAustralia, this year’s ASVO Viticulture Seminar has been billed as “never being more relevant”.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes reports that in 2023 Australia saw: the warmest winter on record in NSW; unseasonally early heatwaves in South Australia; spring bushfires followed by floods in Victoria and heavy rain followed by severe wind which brought down trees in Tasmania. 

Definitely not ideal grape growing conditions.

ASVO president Andy Clarke said, “Last year we saw extreme weather events across every state of Australia. Regardless of which region you are in, these events are becoming more common and successful viticulturists need to know how to deal with dry winters, bushfires, flooding rains, spring frost and wind.

“This viticulture seminar will give vineyard owners and managers the latest best-practice advice and practical information about how to prepare for and manage their vineyards in extreme weather conditions. 

“We may be subject to the whims of the weather, but that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare for and manage the risks more effectively.

“By coming together in person in Orange, we can discuss the issues that matter andsolutions that work specifically for grape growing.”

The event is being held in association with the NSW Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development.

Registration is open now at https://www.asvo.com.au/events/managing-extreme-weather-conditions

Meet a wine man who was ahead of his time

It is 40 years since Mornington Peninsula wine industry pioneer Garry Crittenden, along with family and friends, planted two hectares of vines in one weekend at Dromana and doubled the total amount of vines planted on the peninsula.

Today, of course, the Mornington Peninsula is regarded as one of Australia's premier cool-climate vineyard regions, known around the world for the quality of its pinot noir and chardonnay.

Earlier this month the Crittenden family celebrated 40 years of their involvement in wine on the Mornington Peninsula and reflecting on the dedication of founders Garry and and the late Margaret Crittenden, who died a couple of years ago.

"Why 40 years?" asks my old friend Garry. "Well as I’m in my 80th year now its statistically unlikely that I’ll be around to do 50."



To mark the milestone, Crittenden Estate has released a special pinot noir (above).

When I first started writing about wines in the 1980s, Garry Crittenden was waxing lyrical about not only the Mornington Peninsula, but also the huge potential for Italian grape varieties in Australia.

He was right on both counts.

Today, Crittenden Estate, as the business is now known, is still a family affair and is run by winemaking son Rollo and his sister Zoe.

Garry Crittenden was the first winemaker in Australia to commercialise Italian wine varieties, and was also a pioneered of sustainable farming and regenerative practices, eschewing synthetic chemicals and using only biological farming methods to restore and maintain the health of the soil.

If you visit, you will almost certainly be shown, with pride, the giant compost heap.

Nowadays Garry Crittenden is semi-retired but sill emails regularly and acts as an ambassador for the business.

"In commemoration of that historic time in 1972, I have made a batch of 2021 pinot labelled “40 YEARS ON “," he says.

It's a fine wine that appeared on my doorstep recently, along with some other wines marking important milestones.

Beginning from the early 1980s Garry's late wife Margaret diligently collected press clippings about the Mornington Peninsula wine industry.

In recent years Garry resurrected these clippings and collated them into a book. See here.

The Crittendens have always been among the most generous people in the wine industry. Let's raise a glass to them.

# Tasmanians may be interested to know that Garry Crittenden, along with Tony Jordan and Bill Casimaty, was responsible for planting the Tolpuddle vineyard - perhaps the state's most globally famous vineyard - back in 1988, when the modern Tasmanian wine industry was in its infancy.

Is that a cannon in your vineyard?

 

Calling all vignerons in cool-climate wine regions.

How about a mobile hot-air cannon to guard against unseasonable frosts?

French wine industry outlet Vitisphere reports that the latest in frost protection for vineyards is a mobile hot-air cannon with a power of 1.8 million watts, designed by wine industry entrepreneur Michael Paetzold. 

“The idea came to me during the frosts of April 2021," said the company’s namesake president. “While helping friends light candles or set up fans [in vineyards], I realised that most of the resources available today are not entirely effective.”

Based on this observation, the Bordeaux-based businessman launched a research and development project. 

“The basic idea was that we needed power to combat frost, the intensity and nature of which we have never known beforehand" he said.

"And we wanted something mobile. For a fixed device to be totally effective, the vineyard would need to be a single, circular block, and there is no such thing. So we put as much as we could fit onto a trailer.”

The result is the new cannon, which can be hitched to a tractor and operated while driving. 

“It's a circulating air system, with the added benefit of generating heat," the inventor said. "In terms of design, the fan and the heat source are very closely linked right from the start. It's a complex machine to design, and some people said it wasn't possible. We had to be very precise about the aeraulics” (the science of gas flow)."

The cannon runs on oil or biofuel, and uses “about 200 litres per hour at full power”.  It can be used “practically without any time limitation”.

The price tag of €130,000 means it is not an option for small producers.

Coonawarra viticulturist has triple reasons to celebrate

Ben Harris from Wynns Coonawarra Estate has three reasons to celebrate. 

Not only has Harris been named the 2021 ASVO Viticulturist of the Year at the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology Awards for Excellence, he also been appointed to take over the management of the Wynns viticulture team. 

After joining in 2010 as a vineyard manager, he steps into the shoes of industry stalwart Allen Jenkins who retired last month after a 20-year tenure. 

Colin Bell, 2021 ASVO Viticulturist of the Year Advisory Committee Chair, said: “Ben Harris is one of the most respected and regarded viticulturists in the industry. He has a massive role but still finds the time to push viticultural excellence, offer his time to industry and, most inspiringly, offer his time to young individuals starting their journey. 

"Technical projects like data-based harvest predictions, virus elimination, and robotics make Ben’s contribution highly relevant and essential to the industry. What really stood out was his commitment, integrity, and contribution outside of his role and his great ASVO values and leadership style.”

The news follows the announcement in September that Ben has been selected to participate as a 2022 Len Evans Tutorial Scholar.

 

It’s also the second honour to be bestowed upon Wynns by the ASVO this week. Senior winemaker Sue Hodder was announced as a Fellow of the ASVO in recognition of her particularly outstanding and meritorious contribution to the grape and wine industry and to the society.

The 2021 ASVO Winemaker of the year was Alex Cassegrain from Cassegrain Wines in the Hastings River region of  New South Wales. 

He grew up in the vineyard and worked in the Cassegrain family winery, with a hands-on learning approach to the time-honoured winemaking practices that have been passed down through the generations.

Winds of change blowing at Voyager Estate

Steve James, a key driver of Voyager Estate's success for over two decades, will stand down from his role as Head of Winemaking and Viticulture next month. 

James will transition into a regional viticultural consulting role. 

After 23 years with the company, James has said he will continue to work closely with the production team in his new capacity, including assisting in finalising the organic conversion of the company's vineyards by 2023.

He will also work with other wine growers and producers across the region.

“It is with immense pride and appreciation that I am departing my current role," James said. 

"Following nearly 24 amazing years at Voyager Estate, first as viticulturist and for the past 13 years as Head of Winemaking and Viticulture, I feel the time is right for me to embrace my long-held personal ambition and move into the viticulture consulting sphere, with a specialised focus on organic, sustainable and regenerative farming practices.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunities that Voyager Estate has provided me with, and to move forward with the knowledge that we have developed a terrific team of people who are committed to and passionate about continuing the journey of making exceptional Margaret River wines. 

"My close links with Voyager Estate will continue as consultant viticulturist, where I will continue working with the team on its pathway to sustainably crafting wines with a true sense of place.”

Steve cites organic farming as one of the key reasons Voyager Estate has been able to continually improve fruit quality and create fine wines. 

Voyager Estate owner Alexandra Burt acknowledged the legacy that James has created and that he will continue to play a pivotal role in carrying the business through an exciting new phase of transition and growth.

“I am so proud of how Steve has integrated the winemaking and viticulture at Voyager Estate," she said. 

"I am grateful to him for his commitment, leadership and no-fuss approach to work and life that have made him many friends during his more than two decades with us. 

"We are delighted that Steve will remain connected to the Voyager family. We know his expertise, particularly in sustainability and organics, will be much-sought-after and we are delighted to be able to support him as he embarks on this new chapter in his career.”

No news yet on the next chief winemaker.

 
“Thanks to the exceptional team that Steve has built over the years, we have the luxury of time in terms of recruitment and will be taking a considered approach to ensure we continue to build the right team for our next chapter,” Burt said.

Voyager Estate produces organically-farmed, 100% estate-grown wines. 

Since planting its first vines in 1978, it has made a long-term commitment to sustainability with the goal of ultimately becoming a carbon-neutral business. 

With nearly 90 hectares of vines already officially Australian Certified Organic (ACO), the remainder are set to achieve full Certified Organic status by 2023.

See www.voyagerestate.com.au

Leading viticulturist pulls up stumps

Great wines are often made by a team. 

In the case of Wynns Coonawarra Estate, that team comprises winemaker Sue Hodder, her offsider Sarah Pidgeon and viticulturist Allen Jenkins. 

But that team is about to be split up with today's announcement that Jenkins will retire following this year’s Wynnsday collection release on Wednesday. 

Jenkins has spent 20 years working on the many vineyards that Wynns has in the Coonawarra region. 

“It is incredibly rewarding to have led Wynns’ talented viticultural team for the past 20 years," he said. 

"We have a profound respect for our heritage, each other, and the precious environment that is Coonawarra. 

"There is an intense focus on the needs of the vines, on implementing new and courageous viticultural techniques, and on unravelling the endlessly complex web of interactions involved in growing the perfect grape.”

Hodder, who has worked with Jenkins for two decades, says: “Allen has literally transformed the landscape in Coonawarra though his viticultural efforts. Furthermore, he has had an impact on the way we think about everything from the history to the land and certainly the wines. A profound contribution and a massive legacy."

Jenkins helped craft vines that allowed Hodder to craft wines of greate finesse and elegance. 

In 2010, in recognition of his contribution to viticulture at Wynns he was joint recipient, with Sue Hodder, of the Gourmet Traveller WINE’Winemaker of the Year award.

He has also helped nurture the careers of many of today’s wine industry leaders. 

Stay tuned for a review of the new Wynns releases later this week.