Tasmanian Wineworks opens in Launceston

A new $5 million wine processing facility will come online this week in Launceston – just in time to fill a void that could have left some wineries without anywhere to crush their grapes.

Tasmanian Wineworks is an exciting new venture for Spikey Bridge Vineyard owners Martin and Ros Rees and their friend and partner in Broad Arrow Wines, Jeremy Dineen.

The closure of some wineries and a reduction in surplus capacity at others, such as Joseph Chromy Wines and Tasmanian Vinters, has left small to medium vineyards with nowhere to process their grapes this season.

Combined with an expected increase in the state’s grape production of up to a third in coming years, the Rees and the Dineens could see a gap in the market.

“We expect a range of customers - from large corporates who take the newly fermented wine interstate to finish and package, to smaller wine producers who  deliver their grapes here to be crushed – as well as making our own wine,’’ Mr Dineen said.

“Many of the vines that have been planted in recent years around the state haven’t borne fruit yet and when that harvest comes onto the market it will have to be processed somewhere.

“Most of the grapes are owned by private equity investors and larger farming companies who are looking for a home for their fruit and we don’t want to be forced to ship it interstate.”

Tasmanian Wineworks, at St Leonards, is a 2460sqm factory that has utilised an old timber veneer mill, retaining the original timber rafters and then extended to facilitate new equipment.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on the wine cooling system alone and a new slab was laid over the old to take the weight of three new presses, including the biggest which comes from Germany.

“We’ve been accumulating equipment for a while now, including buying up a whole winery setup from the Yarra Valley a year ago, and because last year’s Tasmanian harvest was so big we ended up loaning or renting fermentation tanks out to other wineries,” Mr Rees said.

“That’s all back here now and added to with more vats – we have a processing capacity for 2026 of 800 tonnes, but the facility is designed to upscale to 2500-3000 tonnes.

“You can drive a B-double tanker in here and turn it around on site, fill it with juice or wine and ship it out quickly and efficiently.

“There are also small tanks and barrels to cater for small batch wines for ourselves and others.”

For Mr Rees, who has had a long finance career with KPMG and Mr Dineen, a winemaker who marketed Frogmore Creek’s first vintage before spending 15 years at Joseph Chromy Wines, combining their skills and following their passion has been a welcome direction for both. 

They have taken on winemaker Luke Jolliffe who has had a stint in Tasmania to take care of the 2003 Bay of Fires vintage and has spent four years recently as a judge at the Tasmanian Wine Show.

“I’ve spent the past 20 years working in the Margaret River wine region of Western Australia but it didn’t take much to twist my arm to come back to Tasmania,” he said.

Another winemaker, Paul Vedig, arrived from Latvia this week to join the team.

The official opening of Tasmanian Wineworks took place on Wednesday.