The Tasmanian Government congratulated State’s wine sector, which had a stellar year in 2021 and with 2022 shaping up to be equally successful.

Tasmanian wines scooped up a barrel of national awards last year.

Accolades awarded included Tolpuddle Vineyard, winning five trophies at the 2021 Melbourne Wine Show; Bream Creek, Clover Hill and House of Arras winning awards at the 2021 Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships; and 10 Tasmanian wines being named in James Halliday’s Top 100 wines of 2021 – Arras, Apogee, Freycinet, Pirie, Tolpuddle, Stargazer and Pooley.

All of the Pinot Noir gold medal winners at the 2021 Sydney Royal Wine Show were Tasmanian, and Tasmania was the most searched wine region on Winecompanion in 2021.

Minister for Primary Industries and Water Guy Barnett said it was an outstanding result for Tasmania and that he was pleased to recognise each of the winners on their success.

“The wine industry in Tasmania has excellent growth prospects and the ability to increase employment and economic benefits to the State,” he said.

“The State’s wine grape vintage was up 18 per cent by volume for 2021 and the wine sector contributes about $200 million to Tasmania’s economy and employs more than 2,000 FTEs.

“The quality of Tasmanian wine grapes is also reflected in the record value of $3,146 per tonne, compared with the national average of $701 per tonne.

“The wine sector continues to be an important and growing contributor to trade and tourism and the overall Tasmanian brand.”

ABS figures for 2019-20 show the export figure for Tasmanian wine was $4.2 million, with the UK, US, Netherlands, Japan and China being the strongest markets.

The outlook for the upcoming 2022 vintage is also positive and the Tasmanian government signalled it would support growth and trade in the Tasmanian wine sector through its market development activities and the Strategic Industry Partnerships Program.

“Additionally, we are investing $100,000 to assist with improving resilience in the wine sector and fund emergency smoke testing, which is part of the $10.2 million new Ag-Protection Package to future-proof Tasmanian agriculture and manage risks to primary industries<’ Barnett said.

“Growth and prosperity in Tasmania’s wine sector will be an important part of our target to sustainably grow the farm gate value of the State’s agriculture to $10 billion by 2050.”

Are you a Daily Wine News subscriber? If not, click here to join our mailing list. It’s free!