Cellar Door Conversations: Ricky

Ricky Evans has experienced wine and winemaking from pretty much every angle.

Owner and winemaker of Two Tonne Tasmania, he’s overseen winemaking in the corporate world, leases and manages a number of vineyards, and, as of 2020, co-owns and manages Havilah Wine Bar with his partner Chanel Parratt in Launceston – selling wine direct to the consumer.

“It’s the cellar door concept, innovated,” Evans says. “It’s an Urban Cellar Door. As opposed to the typical cellar door that's connected to the vineyard, it’s a different way to connect directly to the consumer. There are a few out there, both in Tasmania and on the mainland. Launceston simply seemed ripe for the concept – our wine drinking culture is really taking off.”

However, Evans doesn’t view any of his business endeavours as separate or disconnected. They all help enrich one another; his work cultivating and maintaining vineyards giving him insights as a winemaker as much as his day-to-day business dealings deepen his understanding of consumers and the shifting tastes and priorities of contemporary wine culture.

“I don’t view my work with Havilah as separate from my work with Two Tonne; they’re very much complimentary,” Evans says. “I actually enjoy doing all parts of the business. I am technically a winemaker. But, having these vineyards ticking over is also so rewarding. I want to spend some money investing and honing to make these places better.”

“It’s one thing I learned very quickly when I left the corporate winemaking world. When you’re a small producer, the winemaking journey is very different. I spend many, many more hours walking through the vineyard throughout the year, checking, fixing, tweaking. But,” he emphasises “It’s worth it when you see the wine on the other side.”

It’s all linked by a simple desire: sharing the beauty and complexity of Tasmanian wine culture with the widest array of people possible. It’s what drove him to open a wine bar in Tasmania in the middle of a global pandemic – not just to connect with consumers in a different way but to expand the culture he loves to include more and more people.

“We really wanted to engage with other wine brands, both Tasmanian and further abroad, to create a broader experience of wine,” Evans says. “Really build on that wine culture. And, being able to have a broader conversation about wine; about experiencing and learning how Tasmanian cool climate wine is made, how the difference sub-regions make each wine unique.”

“When I’m able to talk about this kind of thing as the winemaker with different people and consumers and winelovers, it makes for a much richer experience for all of us."