Ghost Rock completes harvest in-house

•  The new Pellenc GL80 tow-behind harvesting machine has been a game-changer at Ghost Rock Wines.

The 20th anniversary of Ghost Rock wines will be one for the farm’s history books, with a perfect growing season, a record crop and its first fully in-house harvest.

The vineyard at Northdown, east of Devonport, the vineyard has grown enormously during the past two decades, from the original 3ha of vines to more than 30ha.

It now grows, picks, processes, bottles and sells its extensive range of wine from the stunningly beautiful premises which also boasts an impressive cellar door and restaurant.

Founded by Cate and Colin Arnold, who decided to put in a small vineyard in the corner of their potato farm in 2004, Ghost Rock is now managed by their son Justin and his wife Alicia.

“This land has been farmed by many generations of my family and the transformation has been quite incredible,” Justin said.

“That original vineyard was surrounded by homes and couldn’t really expand, so we bought adjoining horse property Clairdown and put in more vines and built the winery.

“My grandfather was quite the entrepreneur - something that passed onto my dad and to me.

“He died on this property about the same time as the first vines went in and I reckon he’d be impressed with what we’re doing now – plus he liked a good red.”

Justin spent years learning viticulture and winemaking in Victoria, Western Australia and California before returning to Tasmania to take over management of Ghost Rock Wines.

With more land to work with more grape varieties were planted in 2007 and 2009, and more land was secured over the road and planted out in 2014 and 2015.

Most of Ghost Rock’s labels feature pinot noir, chardonnay, riesling, sauvignon blanc and pinot gris wine, with its 2024 Estate Pinot Noir recently judged the best pinot noir at the Tasmanian Wine Show for the 2023 vintage.

Its sparkling wines are always popular and various blends add to the extensive offerings, most of which are sold in Tasmania and through their cellar door and restaurant.

The last of the riesling has just been picked and the winery is overflowing.

In fact a new tank had to be quickly purchased and installed to take the last of the fruit, with more than 300 tonnes crushed for the first time.

Making the harvest run smoothly at a time when ideal weather conditions have ripened the fruit in a short period of time, is a half-a-million-dollar Pellenc GL80 tow-behind harvesting machine.

It straddles the vines and has vertical, vibrating rods that vibrate the grapes off the vines.

It even separates any “trash”, leaving a clean, quality harvest in the bunker which only takes one minute to transport to the Ghose Rock winery.

“It’s been a beautiful, gentle season with no disease pressure, there’s been no early April rain which can be problematic for picking, and both the quality and yield is healthy, with about 15 tonne to the hectare,” Justin said.

“We’ve had a good local contractor in Marty Smith in recent years who has the self-propelled version of this harvester and that’s given us the confidence to buy our own - the days of hand picking are long gone.

“We estimate it will pay for itself within five years because it can pick in an hour what takes a crew a day to pick by hand.

“While the average cost of hand picking is around $1200 per tonne, it can be up to $2000 per tonne and the machine can do it for $150 per tonne, which is a significant saving in money and time.”

Justin predicts Tasmania’s 2025 grape harvest will be the biggest on record, and years of anecdotes around unmet demand will be truly tested.

“There’s a lot of fruit being crushed, significantly more than ever before and that will be a pressure test, we’ve spoken about this unmet demand but now we get to test it,” he said.

“I think if you’re a producer with strong, direct wholesale channels and good retail partnerships you’ll do well. I think if you’re still developing those channels and you’re a grower who is supplying to wineries it could be more difficult to make a profit.

“We’ve already seen some fruit pricing per tonne plateau and even drop for growers who haven’t got a contract.”

All up there are 16 full time staff working at Ghost rock, including three winemakers (including Justin) and six people working in hospitality.

Vineyard manager Izaak Perkins, who grew up nearby in Port Sorell and was offered the opportunity to study viticulture and work on the farm as a 16-year-old, said that he and two of his crew take turns towing the harvester which has been picking 50 tonnes per day.

“The overall reduction in labour and input costs brings enormous benefit to the business – the quality and capability of what this machine can do is a game changer,” he said.

“This will be my 15th vintage picked at Ghost Rock and it will be the biggest and the best.”