Introducing Lowestoft, Tasmania’s Exciting New Wine Brand

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It is with great pleasure that Fogarty Family Wines announces the release of our new Tasmanian range of luxury and super-premium wines named Lowestoft Tasmania. The development of these wines has been several years in the making.

The Lowestoft vineyard and homestead is an integral part of Tasmania’s wine history. Comprising an historical homestead, built by Thomas Lowes circa 1850 – supposedly modelled on Napoleon Bonaparte’s house on the island of St Helena – with a close-planted (8,300 vines per hectare) 100% Pinot Noir vineyard planted in 1986. The 3 hectare vineyard is planted using planting material from Moorilla (the Mona vineyard) which is believed to be from the James Busby MV6 Pinot Noir cuttings first brought into Australia in 1831. These cuttings were taken from Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy.

Lowes arrived in Tasmania on the vessel Thalia in 1823 and became one of the first wine producers in Tasmania. In 1848 he won first prize at the Hobart Horticultural Society Show for two bottles of wine he produced near Lowestoft.

In January 2019 Fogarty Family Wines acquired the Lowestoft homestead which was the first step in the plan to become one of Tasmania’s leading wine producers. Now, the Group has launched four wines in its debut Lowestoft range, which showcase the ongoing work and exceptional fruit at this significant vineyard and other outstanding Tasmanian sites.

The first release comprises a Chardonnay and three Pinot Noirs:

• Best Barrels Chardonnay – produced from select grower fruit until our own Chardonnay vines come on stream in 2023.
• Best Barrels Pinot Noir – a select barrels blend of Lowestoft fruit and selected small fruit parcels sourced from premium vineyards.
• Single Vineyard Pinot Noir – produced from the best fruit in each vintage from one of our small single vineyard growers.
• La Maison Pinot Noir (Lowes supposedly designed the Lowestoft homestead on Napoleon Bonaparte’s St Helena home) – our “grand cru” produced from the Lowestoft home block fruit. A beautifully structured expression of the Lowestoft site’s close-planted MV6 vines.

Liam McElhinney is at the helm as chief winemaker and general manager across Fogarty Wine Group’s growing Tasmanian operations. Liam works closely with founder and chairman Peter Fogarty, as well as the Group’s chief winemaker Julian Langworthy who oversees their other celebrated brands. These include Western Australia’s Deep Woods Estate, Evans & Tate and Millbrook; and Victorian icon Dalwhinnie.

The small-volume Lowestoft label will soon gain three new méthode traditionelle sparklings, which are benefiting from the expertise of Natalie Fryer. Known as the “queen of sparkling”, Natalie, formerly of Jansz and now with her own local label, has joined the team to assist. The wines include the 2016 Grand Reserve Pinot Noir Chardonnay, 2017 Reserve Rosé and NV Reserve Brut, which are due to roll out in time for Christmas.

As Liam says, it's particularly exciting in the context of what he describes as outstanding quality across the range of wines. “We source fruit from our Tasmanian growers over a very broad range of areas. With investment in more sophisticated sparkling wine equipment and our own bottling facility, I am excited by just how great our wines can be, particularly as our new vineyards come on stream.”

The 2018 Best Barrels Pinot Noir has already been awarded a gold medal at the 2020 Royal Hobart Wine Show, while the 2019 Best Barrels Chardonnay was rated 96 Points in the Halliday Wine Companion 2022 edition. In the Companion, Tyson Stelzer described Lowestoft as “Tasmania’s most exciting new label this year”. A full list of trophies and gold medals is below.

We trust you enjoy our first release wine treasures from Tasmania as much as we have enjoyed selecting the fruit and crafting the wines. 

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TROPHY

Lowestoft 2020 La Maison Pinot Noir
The James Halliday Trophy for Best Pinot Noir
Melbourne Royal Wine Awards 2021

Lowestoft 2020 Best Barrels Pinot Noir
Best Pinot Noir Dry Red
Best Tasmanian Red Wine
Royal Hobart Wine Show 2021

GOLD

Lowestoft 2020 La Maison Pinot Noir
Australian Pinot Challenge 2021
Melbourne Royal Wine Awards 2021
Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2021

Lowestoft 2020 Best Barrels Pinot Noir
Melbourne Royal Wine Award 2021
Royal Hobart Wine Show 2021

Lowestoft 2020 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir
Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2021

Lowestoft 2019 Best Barrels Pinot Noir
Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2021

Lowestoft 2018 Best Barrels Pinot Noir
Royal Hobart Wine Show 2020