A new east coast vineyard is inviting visitors to plant a native tree with their glass of wine as it opens to the public for the first time this weekend.
Rooster & Robin, at Cranbrook, have opened a pop-up cellar door as part of Great Eastern Wine Week.
The family-owned vineyard belongs to Robert and Robyn Pearshouse and has two wines on offer for now.
Great Eastern Wine Week runs from October 22-25, with the vineyard’s pop-up cellar door open from Friday to Sunday.
Robert Pearshouse said most of the vineyards in the area were open this weekend and the couple was “very pleased to be joining them” in bringing people to the region and showcasing Tasmanian wines.
Robyn Pearshouse said the couple was keeping things “quite small and manageable” at this stage.
Its Plant and Sip experience lets visitors buy a glass of wine and plant a native tree on the property. She said it fitted the couple’s philosophy of combining farming and nature, which is reflected in the vineyard’s name.
“‘Plant and Sip’ captures everything Rooster & Robin stands for,” she said.
“Guests will enjoy exceptional Tasmanian wine while helping restore the environment, creating something that will continue growing long after they’ve gone home.”
She also hoped visitors would come back in years to come to see how their tree had grown.
The vineyard sits beside the Swan River. The couple said it was home to remnant stands of the rare warty paperbark and an endangered Eucalyptus barberi and around 150 native trees, shrubs and grasses had been planted so far.
“We believe the best wines are grown, not engineered,” Robert Pearshouse said.
Two steel sculptures by Tasmanian artist Folko Kooper, a rooster and a robin, have been installed at the vineyard and will be visible from the Tasman Highway.
The rooster stands four metres tall and weighs close to two tonnes, while the robin is 1.5 metres including its perch.
“The rooster has a commanding presence and needed to be seen from the highway, while the robin provides a gentle counterpoint,” Kooper said.
Kooper’s other works include the cockatoos beside Hadley’s Hotel in Hobart.
Looking ahead, Robert Pearshouse said interest generated from “just from putting up a couple of signs” suggested the business could outgrow its current setup quickly.
He said the couple did not want to “take over the world”.
“[We’re] just enjoying the process, enjoying the journey,” he said.
“Hopefully grow some good fruit, make some good wine and meet some great people along the journey.”
The vineyard is at 15094 Tasman Hwy, Cranbrook.
Other festival events on Sunday include a wine masterclass with Devil’s Corner winemaker Anthony De Amicis from 11:30am-12:30pm. Obsessionist Vineyard will also open its estate to visitors for the first time with a pop-up cellar door from 11am-3pm.
More information about the festival is on their website.
