Coal River Valley produces some of Australia’s finest wines and the Pooleys are one of its longest established growers. The original Cooinda Vale vineyard is ideally positioned facing northeast overlooking Coal River. On the 43.5 Latitude line, the vineyard is planted on northeast facing slopes between 80 and 100m above sea level. This is a unique microclimate, being well protected from prevailing winds but still highly influenced by maritime conditions. The long growing season, which can extend into May, with high sunshine hours, predominately winter rainfall and the occasional frost and snow, combine to provide an excellent condition for cool climate grape varieties, such as Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Riesling and Chardonnay. Warmer summer daytime temperatures and clear autumn days contribute to this site proving to be rewarding for Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Pooley's Belmont House is a stately old manor, located close to Richmond in Coal River Valley. It was built of sandstone blocks, quarried from Butchers Hill by convict labour in 1832. Similar stones from the same quarry were used to construct Richmond Bridge, Australia’s oldest bridge still in use, built in 1823.

Butcher’s Hill Vineyard at Richmond was established 2003. The addition of a second Single Vineyard site to Pooley Wines has provided depth and diversity. Located on the steepest slopes in Coal River Valley, only 3km from Frederick Henry Bay, the afternoon sea breeze and prevailing winds off the roaring 40s ensure smaller variations between day and night temperatures.

Recognised for their modern, environmentally focused approach to leading viticulture practices, Pooley Wines have achieved status as Tasmania’s first and only, fully accredited Environmentally Certified Sustainable Vineyard. Along with constant care to minimise the impact of farming practices across the vineyards, the Pooley Wines viticultural philosophy is simple. From ground to grape and grape to glass, at the heart of all they do, their actions must never lose focus on providing the most environmentally sustainable approach to viticulture. Generations of tomorrow may benefit from the skills and experience of what was learned today. Pooley Wines are also proud to have received the prestigious Tasmanian Royal Agricultural Society Vineyard of Year Award, in recognition of the winery’s outstanding quality of estate made wines. Pooley have amassed a truly breathtaking tally of Trophied and Gold Medals at significant national industry competitions.

The initial varietal planting was Chardonnay, and this fruit was used to produce the inaugural 1991 Clover Hill Blanc de Blancs. Following its success, the rest of the vineyard was planted out with the traditional varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Today, with the vineyard continually producing exceptional fruit, the vast site search has certainly yielded returns. Since its debut vintage in 1991, Clover Hill has gained a reputation for its uncompromising quality, its elegance and finesse, and its distinguished Tasmanian style. The wines are crafted from the vineyard with care and attention in order to produce some of the most awarded and well-regarded sparkling wines.

Clover Hill's commitment to excellence has been recognised with numerous accolades received from its inaugural vintage in 1991 to today. Accolades include being inducted into the Australian Sparkling Hall of Honour, winning Winestate's Australasian Sparkling Wine of the Year being awarded Tasmanian Vineyard of the Year, twice.

Known as Methode Traditionnelle or Methode Champenoise, the process of crafting elegant sparkling wines in the traditional manner is a highly specialised field, placing Clover Hill in an elite group as one of the few sparkling houses in Australia to exclusively utilise this method.

Holding true to its vision to compete with the wines of Champagne, Clover Hill's inaugural 1991 Blanc de Blancs was produced using this method, and continues to do so with every wine produced today. Widely regarded as the most premium method for producing sparkling wine, Clover Hill takes the finest elements of the Methode Traditionnelle tradition and melds them with the unique flavours and textures produced in the vineyard by using the creativity and insight of a highly skilled winemaking team. Clover Hill was humbled when its Clover Hill Vintage Brut was proudly served during Princess Mary and Prince Frederick's wedding celebration. Clover Hill was then further honoured with another royal appointment when it was selected as one of the four iconic Australian wines served to Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh during their 2011 Australian visit.

Clover Hill is acknowledged as one of Australia's finest sparkling producers. With the cool climate and growing conditions of Tasmania being remarkably similar to that of the famous Champagne region of France, Clover Hill has been able to produce sparkling wines of uncompromising quality, elegance and finesse.

What is now Wynns Coonawarra Estate was founded by Scottish pioneer John Riddoch. He planted vineyards in 1891 and completed the estate's three-gabled winery. In 1951 Melbourne wine merchants Samuel and David Wynn purchased Riddoch's original vineyards and winery and renamed the property Wynns Coonawarra Estate.

The Wynns family recognised the intrinsic qualities of Coonawarra wines - their richness and intensity of fruit character - and set out to build an independent identity in the region. They created the famous label that has made John Riddoch's winery one of Australia's best known buildings.

Its wines are regarded as benchmarks for the district, lauded for their consistent quality and depth of flavour. In contrast to its worldwide reputation, the Coonawarra region is a relatively tiny, cigar shaped strip about 15 kilometres long and 2 kilometres at its widest point.

Its most famous feature is the terra rossa soil, a rich red topsoil which lies over soft porous limestone with a constant water table beneath it. As the vines have to struggle and stress in extending the roots through the thin layer of terra rossa and the limestone to the water table, growth of the vine is limited to producing low yielding, intensely flavoured grapes.

Of all the Australian winemaking regions, Coonawarra - which is an Aboriginal word meaning 'honeysuckle' - stands alone in a number of aspects. The terra rossa soil of Coonawarra is Australia's most famous soil. In reality there are three main soil types within Coonawarra: terra rossa (red or red-brown soil), which always overlies limestone, is on the highest ground and shows no distinct layers; rich black clay rendzina soils over limestone which are located to the west of the terra rossa strip, and sandy, podsolic and solodic soils over clay to the east.

Bollinger, unlike it's thriving market oriented competitive Champagne Houses, has continued to produce rich, full-flavored wines that reflects tradition.

Bollinger owns one of the very few vineyards -Clos St. Jacques - to escape the vine disease that destroyed Europe's wineries in the 1800's. A secial release of this wine as the 100 percent pinot noir champagne called Vieilles Vignes Fran?aises, is unique in that it can boast that it's grown on ancient French rootstock.

Before being a great Champagne, Bollinger is a great wine and the quality of the grapes is a determining factor.

The Bollinger winery enjoys miles of underground cellars which are an integral part of the authentic Champagne making process.

The House's vineyard of 160 hectares, particularly well spread out, enables the winemakers to cover more than 60% of Bollinger's needs; an exceptional situation in Champagne. The remainder is supplied by associated winegrowers. This grape supply ensures the continuity and the consistency of the Bollinger style.