Craigie Knowe is the oldest vineyard on the East Coast of Tasmania. Our first vines were planted in 1979, by then Hobart dentist John Austwick. He was such a pioneer of the time, with many local farmers thinking he was crazy, but they quickly realised John was onto something and planted their own vines.

A passionate Bordeaux Blend Cabernet fan, John initially planted Cab Sav, Cab Franc, Merlot and Petite Verdot, but Pinot and Riesling soon followed. He made his own wine on site in what is now the Cellar Door, and built a great reputation as an exceptional winemaker. 

We are just your average couple who, like most people, love to drink wine and love a challenge… and when we purchased Craigie we definitely got both! The shortened version goes like this (if you would like to know more we’d love to chat in person when you visit). It was during a 3 day break to Piermont on the East Coast that we began exploring what we might “do next”… we’d never been frightened to do different things and found having a common goal kept life interesting! After visiting the cellar doors of Milton and Springvale, we only half seriously said “wouldn’t it be amazing to buy a vineyard”. After a well timed promo email from LJ Hooker and a crazy chat with friends over a bottle of wine, the wheels were set in motion and it wasn’t too long before we were the VERY proud owners of Craigie Knowe. Once purchased we just had to make it work, so it was heads down on a vertical learning curve for some time. Since then, our son has joined us, and having started a viticulture degree he is now the source of so much information; with knowledge comes even better wines.