After a long day of hiking the day before, we had a much more relaxed plan for today. We’d booked a tour of vineyards in the Tamar Valley. Around 11 AM, our guide Terry picked us up. We were joined by 4 Australian couples and a lovely Polish-Australian widower.

We were kind of surprised that there are wine tours in Tasmania, as we’ve never seen or even heard of any Tasmanian wines. It turns out that we’re not alone. Tasmania produces only 1% of Australia’s wine, and 85% never leaves Tasmania. As a result, it’s rare to see any in mainland Australia, much less in the US. We were excited to see (and taste!) what the Tassie vineyards had to offer.

Our first stop was Tamar Ridge Vineyard, where we started off with some sparkling wines. Tasmania makes quite a few sparkling wines, and they were wonderful. We then ran through some whites and reds. As we tasted the wine and chatted with our fellow travelers, we enjoyed tasty local cheeses.

Our next stop was a gin distillery immediately next door.

We tried a couple of traditional gins before trying some more unusual varieties. Julie also had a holiday gin, and I tried a feijoa infused gin that was pretty tasty. Our next vineyard was Moore’s Hill, where we also had a light lunch of cheese and cured meats.

Vineyard number 3 was the Iron Pot Vineyard, a family business where the adult daughter has become their winemaker. We enjoyed talking with her and her parents about their work on the vineyard while drinking their tasty wine.

Our last stop of the tour was Hinton Bay, a tiny vineyard run by a semi-retired couple from Sydney.

Once again the wine was tasty, so much so that Julie and I bought a bottle to take with us. (Spoiler alert: the bottle didn’t last the day.)

From here, Terry drove us back to Launceston. Wine touring in the Tamar Valley had been great fun. The wine is delicious, the small vineyards enchanting, and the vibe was welcoming.

Six of us decided to continue the fun at a nearby pub, and Julie and I had a wonderful evening with our new friends, Kim, Allen, Simone, and Paul. Kim and Allen were by far the coolest in the bunch, as they race 4-wheel-drive vehicles in multi-day competitions throughout Australia and the rest of the world. Kim is the driver, with Allen being in charge of winching their truck up steep inclines. #GirlPower! We stayed out later than we’d planned, swapping stores, discussing fate of the world, and laughing quite a bit. It was a wonderful bit of spontaneity. Tasmania is just plain fun.

-Will