Delamere Vineyard

The first vineyards to be planted in Tasmania were planted in the 19th century but they failed. It was not until the mid 1950's that attempts were again made to establish vineyards. In 1974 the first sizable vineyard was planted at Pipers Brook and today there are at least twelve vineyards in the area known as the North East. Of these vineyards Delamere Vineyard is one of the longest established vineyards Tasmania being first planted in 1982 Pipers Brook. By 2008 Delamere Vineyard has 6.6 hectares of vines, about equally split between pinot noir and chardonnay.One of the interesting viticultural aspects of the vineyard at Delamere is the close planting of vines, traditionally vine densities in Australia are about 2000 vines per hectare. Delamere pioneered the close planting of vines using rows of 1.7 meters apart and vines 1.0 meters apart.It was planted by Richard and Dallas Richardson who identified the suitability of land in Pipers Brook and chose the grape varieties pinot noir and chardonnay to plant. In 2007 the vineyard was purchased by Shane Holloway and Francine Austin who continue the pioneering work of Richard and Dallas Richardson.

Today, Delamere Vineyard is well respected for its table wines as well as it traditional method sparkling wines. All of these wines are made on site providing the benefit of the expression of terroir.

External links

* http://www.taswines.net/
* http://www.abc.net.au/landline/stories/s580611.htm