The home of Australia’s No.1 pinot noir is also ‘Tasmania’s Kakadu’

2 days ago 10

It’s the granite mountain range they call the Hazards, glowing pink in the right light, that dominate the distant view as you wander into Devil’s Corner Winery on Tasmania’s east coast. First, you’re struck by the winery’s architecture, then the neat rows of vines, then the water, and then those remarkable rocky peaks.

Devil’s Corner Winery and its lookout tower.

Each of those components has a story, though. Take the water, also known as Moulting Lagoon for the black swans who do so well here, especially in moulting season. The locals call it “Tasmania’s Kakadu” due to the abundant birdlife. It is an internationally recognised wetland, with more than 100 bird species recorded, including the eastern curlew, a mighty little flyer that commutes 25,000 kilometres from here to the Arctic and back in its breeding and life cycle.

The vast waters of the lagoon and Great Oyster Bay beyond are also perfect for oyster growing. Join the Moulting Lagoon Adventure, and you’ll find yourself touring through the vines below Devil’s Corner to stop down by the lagoon’s shores, and there, at the back of his ute, a local oyster farmer is shucking them from their shells and handing them over, to be savoured alongside a glass of sparkling or riesling.

The Hazards in the distance, across the water from Moulting Lagoon and the vines of Devil’s Corner.

About the only way you’ll get them fresher is if you hop on the farm boat or don waders and make your way out to take the oysters from the racks. The oysters are sublime and salty, delivering you straight to the sea with their flavour.

Oysters fresh from the sea and the shell in the Moulting Lagoon Adventure.

Back up at the winery, there’s lunch and a wine tasting to come. And it’s quite the winery, with indoor and outdoor spaces for drinking and eating and vast lawns. When they created the winery here at Devil’s Corner, its owners, Victoria’s Brown Family Wine Group, expected maybe 60,000 visitors annually. They’re getting triple that and then some, with local outlets cooking up a lively menu of seafood, pizza and platters for visitors. And there is, of course, the wine for the tasting.

And there’s another story. Well over a decade ago, the Browns recognised the impact of global warming, not least on their vines in Victoria’s alpine valleys – grapes were ripening a few days earlier each year. Even if some sceptics stood their ground, the grapes knew the climate was changing. So the family looked south to maintain their stake in premium, cool-climate grapes and in 2010 bought the Tasmanian wine holdings of a timber enterprise called Gunns.

With that came the vineyards here and in the state’s north at Tamar Ridge and labels including Pirie – legendary in Tasmania for its premium sparkling wine – and Devil’s Corner and Tamar Ridge, with their pinot noirs and white wines – riesling, pinot gris and chardonnay.

Family patriarch John Brown likes what they’ve done – “the cool climate makes for great sparkling and great pinot noir”, he says. Devil’s Corner is Australia’s number one selling pinot noir.

“As you move down the coast you can pick the difference in flavours – the pinot here is not ‘jammy’ as it might be in hotter climates.”

Only a two-hour drive separates their Devil’s Corner and Tamar Ridge vineyards, yet there are huge differences in style – in their words, at the coast the wine is more “fruit forward” while at Tamar Ridge it is “much more complex”.

Wine-tasting with a view at Devil’s Corner.

Where once they’d use the facilities at Tamar Ridge, about 25 minutes from Launceston, to process grapes and age and bottle their wines, most of that is now done back at headquarters in Milawa, Victoria.

Nature hates a vacuum though, so along came Turner Stillhouse to fill the void in the processing area at Tamar Ridge, where it now distils gin under its Three Cuts label, sometimes using wine barrels to mature the gin and give it a unique flavour. A spirited combination.

The details

Tour
Devil’s Corner opens from 10am to 5pm daily, but check ahead for winter hours. The Moulting Lagoon Oyster Adventure costs $245 a person – lunch, wine and oyster tastings included. See devilscorner.com.au
Tamar Ridge opens daily for various wine tastings ($10 to $30 a person) and, with Turner Stillhouse, a wine, spirit and cheese tour ($60 a person). See tamarridge.com.au

Stay
Freycinet Lodge, about a 30-minute drive from Devil’s Corner, is surrounded by the Freycinet National Park with the Hazards on one side and the shores of Coles Bay the other. Rooms from $377 a night, Coastal Pavilion from $760 a night. Discounts for auto club members. See freycinetlodge.com.au

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