As they left the vineyard, Hill-Smith says that he and Shaw immediately agreed that they had to buy it. ‘At the time,’ he recalls, ‘it almost felt like we were buying something off the shelf. I don’t think we quite realised that in order for the vineyard to reach its full potential, it would need another decade of ongoing investment and effort.’

But aside from the ideal situation of the vineyard, which was named after the Tolpuddle martyrs (a group of early 19^th-century unionists who were transported to Tasmania, one of whom ended up labouring on a property on the site), Hill-Smith and Shaw were excited by the potential in Tasmania’s terroir in general, and the Coal River Valley in particular.

Like the vast majority of Tasmanian viticultural areas, the Coal River Valley lies on the island’s eastern coast. You might expect Tasmania to be buffeted by oceanic storms, lying as it does over 400 kilometres south of the Victorian coastline. It’s certainly true that the cold Antarctic currents – and the blustery winds that blow in from the coast – keep the island at a frigid growing season average of 14.4°C (cooler than Champagne by 0.3°C), but the mountains that run along the north-south spine of the island create a rain shadow effect that protects most of the east coast from heavy precipitation.

As a result, most of Tasmania’s prime vineyards don’t tend to suffer from fungal diseases, and the ripening season is prolonged, allowing the grapes to continue to accumulate concentrated flavours while retaining incredible levels of acidity – all without seeing the spikes in sugar levels that can lead to high alcohol in the finished wines.

At a time when climate change means growers in more established viticultural regions are battling rising alcohol levels and a loss of freshness in their wines, it’s little wonder that Tasmania is increasingly being seen as a cool place to grow grapes, in both senses of the word. Most of the earliest plantings here were focused on the production of sparkling wines, and the island is still the source of much of Australia’s best fizz, but an increasing number of producers are focusing their attention on still wines. Although there’s been a great deal of experimentation with grapes in an effort to identify the ideal varieties for Tasmania’s terroir, Hill-Smith is convinced that, for the moment at least, Chardonnay and Pinot offer the surest path to excellence.

Certainly a tasting of all ten vintages of Tolpuddle’s Chardonnays, and nine Pinots (no Pinot was made in 2019 due to low levels of smoke taint from Victoria’s huge bush fires, which was blown across the Bass Strait by the prevailing winds), demonstrated a high level of quality. The Chardonnays were more consistent in style than the Pinots, which didn’t fully hit their straps until 2017 and showed far more stylistic variation.

‘There’s absolutely no doubt that Chardonnay has more flex in it, while Pinot is super sensitive to both site and vintage conditions,’ Hill-Smith explains. ‘And initially we were stuck with a number of Pinot clones that did the job well enough, but our new plantings have had an impact on the quality of the wines. It’s been an evolution, and our understanding of how to grow better Pinot down there is starting to show. I think the variation from vintage to vintage will be less marked in future.’

Hill-Smith is far from alone in expressing confidence in Tasmania’s future as a source of fine wines, and a growing number of Australian winemakers are demonstrating their optimism about the potential to make world-class wines on the island. On the strength of the evidence presented here, some of them have already attained that goal.

Tasting notes and scores for Tolpuddle 2012-2021 are available to all registered users of The Collection, the online home of our premium wine and spirits content. To register for free, click here.