Delamere Vineyards - Vineyard - Pipers Brook Region

Our passion for the region of Tasmania, at similar latitude to the Champagne and Burgundy regions in France, arises from a desire to seek out a genuine cold climate that can produce wines of classic structure, combining fruit intensity with refinement, complexity with persistence of flavour, and the ultimate expression and grape and region.

The region of Pipers Brook in the north east of Tasmania enjoys a significant climatic advantage that is unique in Australia; that of a very low variability of maximum temperature. This stability is born from a unique set of geographical features: the hot northerly winds are cooled by the waters of Bass Strait, while the cool southerlies gain heat as they cross the island. This, combined with cool, relative temperatures and significant sunshine hours make for ideal conditions to retain delicate aromas. The frosty and sometimes wild conditions of winter give way to clear, crisp, blue-sky days through the growing season, allowing the fruit to ripen slowly and evenly, assuring a lingering acidity essential to producing premium cool climate varietals.

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Delamere Vineyards is planted on rich ironstone soils perfectly suited to the cultivars of pinot noir and chardonnay exclusively, and was established in the traditional French design used in Burgundy and Champagne. The deep red Ferrosol soils offer great fertility, excess water drainage and moisture retention, meaning that irrigation is not required.

The vineyard is densely planted (7500 vines per ha) and has a vertical shoot position trellis system with a very low fruiting wire, some 60cm off the ground. The low yield per vine and the reflective heat from the ground produces wines with superior depth of flavour and ripe well-developed tannins. Vine age and subsequent natural balance are key factors in the consistent production of wines with great structure and harmony.