Stillwater co-owner and sommelier James Welsh knows a thing or two about wine and the experience that our local winemakers have created at their cellar doors. Here, he shares his guide to some of the most summer afternoon-worthy winery visits in Launceston and surrounds, and the not-to-be-missed eats and drinks while you’re there.

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STONEY RISE

Joe and Lou Holyman are very good friends of ours at Stillwater, but that’s not the reason that you’ll always find their Stoney Rise and Holyman labels on our wine list - the wines themselves also happen to be remarkable. A visit to the architectural dream that is the Stoney Rise cellar door will take you only 30 minutes out of Launceston CBD, but - perched as it is atop a hill in the vineyard, and with sweeping views out to kanamaluka/Tamar River and the grapevines - you’ll feel totally ensconced in wine country.

Boasting impressive wine world pedigrees respectively, it’s little wonder that Joe and Lou chose this site to raise their three kids, and grow and make their own wine. Much of the vineyard was planted almost four decades ago, lending a complexity in the bottle that simply can’t be replicated by younger fruit. The Holyman’s sustainable and minimal intervention approach to viticulture and winemaking creates the ideal environment in which to let that complexity sing.

Joe was undoubtedly one of the pioneers of this approach in Tasmania, but you'd never hear it from him - that's just Joe, quietly going about his business. I recall a lunch in Sydney in 2016, where he presented a decade of the Holyman Chardonnay vintages. He handed each member of a select group of Australia's most influential journalists and sommeliers a manila folder with technical notes on the wines. The folder was empty. Again, that's Joe, with his unpretentious, hands-off style, confident in his work. One international journalist even called Stoney Rise 'Australia's greatest Chardonnay vineyard' that day.

Stoney Rise’s “not your average cellar door” tagline reflects the offering inside, pouring not just its own wines by the glass and bottle, but also a rotation of interesting drops from some of the Holyman’s favourite - and often experimental - Australian and international winemakers. From midday-3pm, you’ll also find a menu made for snacking on alongside wine - think charcuterie, cellared sardines, baked cheese, and toasties.

Drink: 2023 Holyman Chardonnay (this stuff is rarer than rocking horse droppings - never walk past it if you see it in a bottleshop)

Eat: Lou’s French Onion Dip

96 Hendersons Lane, Gravelly Beach

Thursday-Monday 10am-5pm

SMALL WONDER WINES

Nestled amongst rolling hills and native bushland, Small Wonder is the lucky custodian of 20 hectares of vines, some of which are nearly 25 years old. Clever planting matches individual grape varieties with their optimal soil type and growing conditions, transitioning from Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris uphill, to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir down slope.

Under new-ish ownership, the winery has undergone a sensational transformation into the holy grail of vine-to-bottle production floors. An on-site bottling line is a luxury enjoyed by few Tasmanian winemakers, and Small Wonder’s is especially remarkable: imported from Italy, and up to the challenge of bottling white, red, crown-sealed, screw-cap, sparkling under cork, and everything in between. You can catch a glimpse of the winery in action from the cellar door, but full-blown wine nerds should join a tour of the space, conducted daily at 10.30am or 2.30pm, and concluding with a tasting.

The wines themselves are the product of the extraordinary measures taken to convert the vineyard to organic certification, alongside regenerative farming practices, 100% green energy, and a focus on restoring biodiversity across the property. It’s a methodical and painstaking approach that is reflected in the glass, with each varietal demonstrating a true representation of the terroir in which it was grown and made. Best drunk with a cheese-topped lavosh, the Small Wonder cellar door is an irresistible invitation to linger with friends in the West Tamar.

Drink: 2021 Blanc de Blancs

Eat: A platter of local cheese, charcuterie, pesto, olives, fresh bread and lavosh

530 Auburn Road, Kayena

Monday-Sunday 11am-5pm (closed Tuesday-Wednesday in Winter)

SINAPIUS VINEYARD

Stillwater has a long and special connection with Sinapius. Having worked closely with the late Vaughan Dell, the vineyard’s co-owner since 2005, we now share a similarly close relationship with his wife, Linda. As one of the first wine growers and makers to experiment with growing rarer varieties like Gamay, Grüner Veltliner and Gerwürztraminer, Vaughan blazed a Tasmanian trail in the wine world. Since he passed away unexpectedly in 2020, Linda has carried on his legacy, initially with the support of other Tasmanian winemakers (a testament to our incredible local producer community), and now with Vaughan and Linda’s daughters, Esme and Clem (check out the wines named after them). With impressive credentials in other wine regions around the country, Linda is more than up to the task.

Sinapius continues to produce some of my favourite wines, and much of the credit must go to the vineyard’s high-density planting practices, which are modelled on those of Burgundy, the home of old-world Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. By committing to high-density planting, the vineyard creates especially challenging labour requirements for its team, nearly all of which is undertaken by hand. The day we all pitched in to help Linda and the girls with pruning immediately after Vaughan’s passing, my soft sommelier hands and lower back barely managed to recover. I thought a lot about Vaughan that day - he was someone who never followed the crowd and always trusted his own path. He was the kind of man and father I aspire to be.

Sinapius produces an exceptional range of wines, each a concentrated expression of the site on which its fruit was grown and nurtured. From the comfort of Sinapius’ intimate cellar door, your only job is to take in expansive views over the nearby vines over a guided tasting and a glass of something you won’t quickly - if ever - find at your local bottle shop.

Drink: 2023 Vaughn’s Jardin Gamay

Eat: Fuel up just 7 minutes east of the cellar door at the Pipers River General Store, where you’ll find - in my humble opinion - one of the finest egg and bacon rolls around.

4234 Bridport Road, Pipers Brook

Thursday-Friday & Monday, 11am-5pm

Saturday-Sunday & Public Holidays, 12pm-5pm

CLOVER HILL WINES

As one of the preeminent sparkling wine producers in the country, Clover Hill needs no introduction to lovers of Tasmanian bubbles. Along with just a handful of other Australian producers, the vineyard has been producing exclusively traditional method sparkling wine for almost four decades and, more recently, has focused its attention on an exclusively multi-vintage sparkling portfolio. By blending fruit harvested in two or more separate years, the label produces a consistent house style across their outstanding range of Blanc de Blancs, Late Disgorged, Sparkling Rosé and other sparkling varieties, many of which are only available at the cellar door.

With a Gourmet Traveller WINE award under its belt, it’s little wonder that the Clover Hill visitor experience is as impressive as the wine itself, with breathtaking views over the staggeringly steep vineyard, and indoor and outdoor spaces made for long afternoons of sipping, no matter the weather.

Many years ago, I enjoyed a memorable lunch at this stunning wine destination with my wife and our then two-year-old son. As we arrived, my son was mesmerised by a herd of black Angus cattle - there must have been around 30 of them, packed together like sardines - huddled along the fence line of the neighbouring property, right next to a magnificent block of Pinot Noir vines near the cellar door. Wandering over to investigate, we discovered a young couple enjoying a private moment among the vines. Later, they joined us on the terrace at the next table, savoring a cheese platter and what looked like two exquisite glasses of Vintage Brut 2000 - the same vintage that Princess Mary had chosen for her wedding. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were scouting for wedding inspiration, perhaps thinking, 'If it’s good enough for Princess Mary, it’s good enough for us… though maybe we’ll skip the cattle as guests!’

At Clover Hill, an excellent small plates menu highlights the sweet, acidic and umami flavours found on both plate and glass, and is available to peruse when you book a 45-minute guided wine tasting masterclass in advance. For a truly special experience, book the multi-course dining experience, served in the Omakase style of entrusting the menu to the Chef, and accompanied by matching wines.

Drink: Tasmania Rosé Multi-Vintage

Eat: Local Cheese Platter

60 Clover Hill Road, Lebrina

Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-4:30pm

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