Caledon Estate brings new life to 'misery farm'

When Tasmanian natives James and Karen Stewart used to come back home to visit and drive through the Richmond and Coal Valley area, they would always look up at a hill and tell themselves, “if that land ever comes up for sale, we will buy it”.

It eventually did, and they bought the land and turned it into a winery.

Before establishing Caledon Estate, the married couple were living in Melbourne.

‘We were trying to find a way to come home, and to be able to live here and make a living,” Karen said.

“We needed to be close to the airport, because James has to travel for work, and fell in love with Richmond.

“It’s very hard to buy land in the Coal River Valley area – it’s very tightly held.”

Before the Stewarts bought it, the land had been a sheep farm.
“The old farm manager has come up to the cellar door and visited us, and he said he used to call it misery farm because it was hopeless to try and grow anything here,” Karen said.

“He used to run water from the neighbour's property to water the sheep.

“He said it was pretty grim.

“He was amazed that we were actually able to grow vines here.”

The couple bought the land in late 2018 and planted their first vines in spring 2019.

“We had our first vintage in 2022, and that same year we bottled our reserve pinot noir, which spends 10 months in barrels, and our chardonnay, which spends nine months in barrels,” James said.

“In 2023, we bottled everything, and the idea was that we’d have the cellar door open by the time they were ready.”

But it did not work out that way.

James said he estimated the construction process was delayed by about two years.

“We didn’t seem to have any major building delays due to COVID.

“It was more just building schedules, and it was taking longer than initially expected.”

The cellar door was finished in December 2024 and opened to the public the following month.

“Even though we’ve only been open for a year, people are on their third and fourth visits,” Karen said.

“They like what we’re doing and they come back.

“Every weekend we’re full.”

But the pair said they felt Caledon Estate was ignored in favour of other wineries in the Coal River Valley area.

“It’s hard because we’re not on the main route,” James said.

“We feel as though we have to make this a destination in itself to attract people to come that three kilometres past Richmond.

“It’s just making people aware that we’re here so they know to come.”

The Stewarts plan to more than double the number of vines they have planted, from 10 hectares to 28.

“We have done one wedding here and we have three more booked this year,” Karen said.

“We have the capacity to have weddings and functions, which I think might be our future – there are a lot of inquiries about weddings.

“I think young couples are looking for unique, smaller and intimate places to get married, and this seems to suit them.”

The original gum trees that stood when the Stewarts bought the land still stand on Caledon Estate.

“We planted the vineyard around the gum trees, which for people working the machinery is a bit of a challenge,” James said.

“But we really think it’s part of the beauty of the place.

“We’ve been able to maintain all the native grasses that have always been here.

“Minimising our footprint on the environment and sustainability is important to us.”