Tolpuddle Vineyard

Some vineyards become famous slowly. Tolpuddle, in Tasmania's Coal River Valley near Richmond, spent its first two decades growing fruit for sparkling wine before its new owners saw what else it could do. In little more than ten years since, it has become one of the reference points for Australian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The site

Tolpuddle was planted in 1988 by Tony Jordan, Garry Crittenden and Bill Casimaty — originally Chardonnay and Pinot Noir intended for sparkling wine. The vineyard sits on a gentle north-east-facing slope of light silica soils over sandstone, in a rain-shadow area that receives around 500 mm a year. It is a combination that suits both varieties: enough warmth and sun to ripen them, enough cool to keep them taut, and dry enough that the vines are never pushed into vigour.

The name has its own history. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were Dorset farm labourers transported to Australia in the 1830s for trying to form a union, and their leader, George Loveless, served part of his sentence on this property.

New owners, the same two grapes

In 2011 the vineyard was bought by Martin Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith MW, the founders of Shaw + Smith in the Adelaide Hills, and their first Tolpuddle vintage was 2012. They made a deliberate choice to do very little: two wines only, a single-vineyard Pinot Noir and a single-vineyard Chardonnay, with Adam Wadewitz making the wine. The vineyard is a certified member of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, and around twenty hectares of mature vines supply the wines.

The wines

The Pinot Noir is the one most people come for: deep in colour for Australian Pinot, perfumed, layered and built on fine tannin and acidity rather than weight. The Chardonnay has its own following — it has been named best young white at the Yarra Valley Wine Show three times. Both age well, and both tend to go quiet for a few years before showing their best.

At Winetrust

We hold Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 and the 2024. Open the 2022 first; put the 2024 away.