Six of the best Hobart cellar doors
Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers
Winemaker Nick Glaetzer has transformed an old ice factory into a cellar door.
The Glaetzer-Dixon cellar door isn’t near Hobart – it’s in Hobart. Bang in the middle of the city. Winemaker Nick Glaetzer-Dixon was inspired by the urban wineries of California when he created his cellar door in an old ice-making factory just outside the Hobart CBD. The wine is made right here on Brooker Highway, pressed and fermented across the road from a Mazda dealer and an Officeworks. It’s matured in oak barrels here too and it’s also available for sampling in a smart tasting room next to the winery. It’s well worth making an appointment to sample Nick’s incredibly good pinot noir alone. See gdfwinemakers.com
Pooley Wines
Pooley Wines has a historic property and two separate vineyards in the Coal River Valley in southern Tasmania.
Anna Pooley’s grandparents, Denis and Margaret, needed something to do in their retirement from the Hobart auto industry back in 1985, so they decided to plant a few vines in Cooinda Vale, in the Coal River Valley, and make wine. Anna is now in charge of a family legacy that has grown into one of the most important in Tasmania: Pooley Wines is exceptional, with incredibly good riesling, pinot noir, shiraz and merlot, and you have to pay a visit here to sample it. The friendly cellar door is set next to the family home, a gorgeous 1830s mansion about 25 minutes north of Hobart CBD. See pooleywines.com.au
Stefano Lubiana
Osteria Vista restaurant at Stefano Lubiana Wines.
It’s not Tuscany. It’s not Sicily. It’s not Umbria. It’s … Tasmania? The Stefano Lubiana cellar door is a little slice of Italy, with its terracotta tiles and sunny patio draped in leafy vines. There’s also a distinctly Mediterranean warmth to the welcome at this family-run winery just outside Hobart, where the tastings are generous, and the long lunches stretch well into the late afternoon. Stefano Lubiana’s wine is all biodynamic and all extremely good, from chardonnay to pinot gris to riesling to pinot noir. And the set-menu meals of rustic, wood-fired Italian fare make a visit here a no-brainer. See slw.com.au
Frogmore Creek
Sit on a patio overlooking the vines … Frogmore Creek.
Life is good at Frogmore Creek, whether you’re out on the patio overlooking the vines and the glittering Pittwater, sipping a glass of wine on the covered verandah, enjoying something good to eat at the restaurant, or standing inside at the tasting room, working your way through the Frogmore range. And you’re only 20 minutes out of Hobart. Frogmore Creek is a big operation with plenty to recommend it, not least the amiable, knowledgeable staff and the multitude of options for enjoying yourself on site. See frogmorecreek.com.au
Derwent Estate
The sloping hills of Derwent Estate Wines.
There’s such a rustic charm to the Derwent Estate cellar door, set in a heritage-listed 1820s cottage, that you forget you’re only 20 minutes outside a state capital. That’s such a short journey to a vineyard on the banks of the Derwent, and well worth the effort, given the views and the history and the tasty, tasty wine. Derwent Estate focuses on the Tassie classics, chardonnay and pinot noir, though there’s also some fantastic riesling and pinot gris to sample. There’s excellent food too, high-quality mod-Tasmanian fare at on-site restaurant The Shed. See derwentestate.com.au
Moorilla
Moorilla vineyard, MONA’s on-site wine temple.
You probably know a lot about the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) already: the famous artwork, which ranges from beautiful to repulsive, the incredible architecture, the on-site restaurants, the ferry ride to get here. But how about the fact that MONA began its life as a winery? The site of the gallery was – and still is – a vineyard used to produce Moorilla wines. Those drops, along with those of Moorilla’s higher-end sibling, Domaine A, are up for tasting at the on-site cellar door, which these days forms just a small part of the MONA behemoth. Though, it’s a valuable one. See mona.net.au
The writer travelled as a guest of Tourism Tasmania
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