Shaw + Smith buys Tolpuddle Vineyard

Australian cool climate wine producer Shaw + Smith has moved south to buy one of Tasmania's most prized estates: the Tolpuddle Vineyard in the Coal River Valley.

From the 2012 vintage, the Adelaide Hills producer is set to make single vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the 20-hectare vineyard – wines the company hopes will be ‘among the very best, most expressive vineyard designated wines in Tasmania and Australia’.

The vineyard takes its name from the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who were transported to the island for forming an agricultural union. Leader George Loveless lived and worked on the estate.

‘We did a road trip from the north of Tasmania to the south, and quite simply this vineyard was the most impressive we saw,’ said Michael Hill Smith MW, who runs Shaw + Smith with cousin Martin Shaw.

Exclusively planted to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the Tolpuddle Vineyard was established in 1988 by the Casimaty family, Tony Jordan and viticulturist Gary Crittenden.

Written by Richard Woodard