About Spring Vale

Spring Vale is situated at Cranbrook, north of Swansea on Tasmania's Freycinet Coast. The Freycinet Coast could otherwise be described as the mid East Coast, and Spring Vale is about in the middle of that.

Continuing in the tradition of hard work and innovation established by William Lyne in 1826, Rodney and Lyn Lyne have planted 6.6 hectares of wine grapes at Spring Vale, principally Pinot Noir. The vineyard began in 1986, when a small area of two acres was planted to Pinot Noir. Further plantings were made in the following years: firstly, more Pinot Noir, then Chardonnay and Gewürztraminer, followed by Pinot Gris in 1996. The most recent plantings are of still more Pinot Noir and a splash of Pinot Meunier.

The Freycinet Coast is the driest part of the state, with an average annual rainfall of 550mm. Irrigation is therefore essential. The entire vineyard is drip irrigated, and has overhead sprinklers for frost protection. The soil is mostly a fertile clay loam, with the subsoil varying from porous friable loam with rock to medium-heavy clay. Drainage is excellent throughout the vineyard and the pH of the soil is around 6.5. A modified Lyre ("U-shaped") trellis system is used in conjunction with vertical shoot positioning (VSP), while the newest block has a simple VSP trellis. All vineyard operations are carried out manually - pruning, shoot positioning, leaf plucking and harvesting.

The team

Rodney and Lyn are the owners of Spring Vale. Rodney manages the farm and vineyard - a never-ending task which sees few spare weekends present themselves. He steers the ship with Lyn as counsel and support. Lyn is a retired primary school teacher of 25 years who has shown great enthusiasm for farming and viticulture, giving Rodney her full support and assistance.

Kristen is the only daughter of Rodney and Lyn. She completed her wine science degree in 1999, and has since worked in France as an assistant winemaker and in the Yarra Valley as a lab technician. Kris and her husband Dave have been making the wines at Spring Vale since 2002.

Tim is one of Rodney and Lyn's sons who came back to the farm in 2006 with his wife Kellie to take over general management of the business. His business skills are proving invaluable to the family business.

Robert Elliott is the vineyard supervisor at Spring Vale. He works tirelessly in the vineyard and elsewhere on the farm and has good control over the quality of all vineyard processes.  Between his efforts and the Lyne family's commitment, Spring Vale wines are guaranteed to continue to excel.

Preserving History

Both the Spring Vale homestead and the cellar door building are heritage listed. The cellar door is actually a stable, which was built by convict labour in 1842. The stable has been preserved (with minor restorations necessary) and is now a unique cellar door building with a very historic feel. In the same room, a modern Macrocarpa pine bar and wooden wine racks have been installed, to offer a great mixture of old and new.

The cellar is open from 10am to 4pm every day, except Christmas Day (and maybe Boxing Day, if it's good fishing weather.)