Coal River classic

Tasmania boasts an embarrassment of riches for a relatively small island. Scenery that is quite unlike anything else in Australia, interspersed with places of tremendous historical importance. Its food, wine and spirit offerings are world class, and its roads are a dream for any motoring enthusiast – though obviously not in combination with the aforementioned wine and spirits offerings.

Regardless of where you start or finish your Tasmanian visit, you will discover wonders in one form or another, and the more time you have to explore, the more the Apple Isle will reveal itself. But even those on a relatively tight time budget can experience one of Tasmania’s finest wine offerings just 30 minutes from Hobart, in a region that is also brimming with historical flavour.

Pooley Wines is nestled in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley, a stunning combination of history, light and landscape that transports you back to another time. Here, on the edge of the historic village of Richmond, Pooley Wines quietly commands its place among the country’s most celebrated cool-climate vineyards, producing award-winning pinot noir and riesling on its two sites – Cooinda Vale, the site of the original 1985 plantings and the younger Butcher’s Hill in Richmond.

The Pooley Wines experience begins at Belmont, a sandstone homestead from the 1830s just a short drive from Richmond’s Georgian bridge — Australia’s oldest bridge still carrying traffic and travellers across the Coal River.

The Pooley family has transformed the old coach house and stables into one of Tasmania’s most charming cellar doors, preserving the historical charm while bringing facilities into the modern age. 

This is very much a family story that began with Denis and Margaret Pooley planting their first vines back in 1985 before Tasmania had become recognised as the viticultural powerhouse it is today. They chose a north-facing slope near Campania, calling it Cooinda Vale, a name that means ‘happy place’ in an Aboriginal language. Those early plantings of Pinot Noir and Riesling were small but deliberate — an experiment in how the island’s marginal climate might reward patience and precision. It did. The wines began to draw quiet acclaim and what started as something of a hobby has turned into a celebrated winery that has admirers around the country and indeed the world. 

Over time their son John and his wife Libby expanded the operation, purchasing Belmont in Richmond and planting a second vineyard, Butcher’s Hill, on its sheltered slopes. It is that property that has became the heart of the operation, with the family’s third generation continuing the tradition, with Matthew as viticulturist and Anna in winemaking.

What makes the Pooley offering so distinctive is the balance it strikes between elegance and intensity. The Coal River Valley’s cool conditions allow the growing season to be extended, which allows slow ripening and finely etched acidity. It’s an environment that produces aromatic whites and Pinot Noir, and Pooley’s examples of these varieties are some of the best. Their Rieslings are crystalline and precise, all lime and minerality, while the Pinot Noirs — particularly those drawn from the Butcher’s Hill vineyard — have a depth and perfume that reward quiet attention. Chardonnay, too, is produced here with outstanding results. 

The cellar door experience is as impressive as the wine, conducted in the old stone buildings, with the unhurried feel for which Tasmania is famous. Needless to say it is a popular venue and bookings are essential to avoid disappointment.

For those with the time and desire to linger longer, Pooley Wines includes accommodation just across the road at Prospect House, a beautifully restored Georgian manor turned boutique hotel. The rooms are understated yet elegant, the sort of place where breakfast might feature local honey, and dinner is served with wines drawn from the valley just beyond the window. Staying overnight, allows true immersion in the experience, followed by a morning walk through the vines or even into historic Richmond which is certainly worth further exploration.

Founded in the early 1820s, Richmond is one of Tasmania’s best-preserved colonial villages, where every building seems to tell a story. The bridge — built by convicts and still arching gracefully over the Coal River — remains the town’s centrepiece, and is the country’s oldest bridge still in operation. Small cafés line the main street while the old gaol and churches offer glimpses of the settlement’s early life. On weekends Richmond’s proximity to Hobart make it a veritable magnet for travellers, so those able to visit during the week will have a very different experience.

A short drive in any direction deepens the opens up the Coal River Valley which is home to several other cellar doors. Each has its own identity — Frogmore Creek’s sweeping views and Nocton’s rustic quiet, but Pooley remains the benchmark, both for its wines and its sense of place. Beyond wine, there are small farms and food producers tucked among the hills, with cheesemakers, beekeepers and orchards offering seasonal tastings – a foody’s dream come true.

Visiting Pooley is, in many ways, a lesson in why Tasmania’s reputation for cool-climate winemaking has really taken off. The Apple Isle’s conditions — its latitude, its maritime breezes, its ancient soils — reward detail and restraint. And those qualities are mirrored in the people who make the wines – seeking to perfect their wines rather than chasing accolades. But recognition has surely come, with national awards that include the Halliday Wine Companion’s 2023 Winery of the Year, international attention, and a loyal following among those who appreciate finely crafted wines.

The Pooleys have created a great deal more than just an outstanding winery, rather they have managed to distill some of the very elements that are Tasmania’s character – an element of history, the Coal River Valley landscape and light, captured in a bottle.

Certainly it is a gem in the Coal River Valley, which could be a world away from the everyday, and yet is so easily reached from Hobart’s many attractions. Within half an hour you can be back in Hobart’s harbour bustle, yet the calm of the valley stays with you — a reminder that some of life’s richest moments arrive when you pause long enough to taste them properly.