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SUNSHINE WINE

They don’t call it the Sunshine State for nothing.

Most of Queensland receives an average of between eight and nine hours of sunshine every day - and not those watered-down rays that you get south of the Tweed. This is your searingly hot, moist ’n sweaty, Non-Daylight-Saved sunshine.

Theoretically, it shouldn’t be possible to produce great wine here, but somebody forgot to tell that to Queenslanders.

UNEXPECTED WINE COUNTRY

Viticulture has been part of Queensland life since the mid 1800s, although not always for wine production (table grapes dominated), and not always where you’d expect it to be. In Roma for instance (southwest Queensland’s Gateway to the Outback), plantings peaked during the 1890s before recurring drought and marauding lorikeets finally claimed the vines.

But further south, on the cool, elevated slopes between the New England Tableland and the Darling Downs, it was a different story...

TIN TOWN

In the 1880s, the discovery of alluvial tin at a little Granite Belt settlement called Quart Pot Creek* sparked a rush, bringing a sudden influx of excited miners to the region. Fearing outbreaks of ungodly behaviour, the Bishop of Brisbane despatched Italian-born priest, Father Jerome Davadi to minister to the growing populace. Jerome did what all right-minded priests in his situation would do. He planted grapevines. A keen orchardist and nurseryman, Jerome also clearly had a nose for the commodity market. Sensing change, he urged local miners to diversify into viticulture – even offering cuttings from his own vines. When the bottom fell out of the tin market, a core of grateful miners remained on the land, helping establish the region as a premium producer of cool climate fruit, vegetables and grapes.

*At the height of the tin rush, Quart Pot Creek was rechristened (with a scary lack of imagination) Stannum – the Latin for tin. When tin fever receded, Stannum - in need of a makeover - changed its name again, appending a genteel thorpe (from the English for village) to the end.

Et voila – Stanthorpe!

ONE OF TWO

Fr Davadi may have been the first Italian to make his mark in the Granite Belt, but he wouldn’t be the last.

After WW1, when well-intentioned Soldier Settlements in the region failed, Italian immigrants enthusiastically took up the land abandoned by the soldiers – and put it under vine. But still the focus was on table grapes (although family wines were sometimes made from them). It wasn’t until the 1960s, when the Ricci family planted the first Shiraz grapes in the region, that the era of modern winemaking arrived on the Granite Belt. Slow and steady growth picked up pace in the 80s and 90s - and burgeoned in the noughties.

Today, there are around 50 wineries and cellar doors scattered across the region, including Ballandean, Ridgemill, and Qld’s largest winery, Sirromet. In 2002, the Granite Belt was awarded GI status – one of only two recognised wine regions in Queensland.

BRASS MONKEYS & STRANGE BIRDS

The Granite Belt is one of the highest wine regions in Australia. Its climate is technically sub-tropical, but the region’s elevation provides the cool conditions that make for high quality viticulture. Did we say cool? With subzero temps, and occasional snow flurries, even the locals call winter Brass Monkey Season.

The region’s top varieties are the classics - Cabernet, Chardonnay and Shiraz, with Verdelho and Viognier rounding out the mix.

But if your palate strays to the adventurous side, there’s an incredible array of alt and emerging varieties on the Strange Birds Wine Trail - where you can wrap your laughing gear around Albariño, Saperavi, Petit Manseng and Sagrantino from some of Australia’s preeminent boutique wine producers.

SOUTH BURNETT

North and east of Stanthorpe, about 120 kms inland from the Sunshine Coast is the lush sub-tropical hinterland region of South Burnett.

At a mere 320 clicks from the Tropic of Capricorn, South Burnett is not only Australia’s most northerly wine region, it’s also one of the most equatorial wine regions on the planet. Hot and humid, it’s the Hunter Valley of the north. But while the Hunter enjoys proximity to the ocean and its cooling breezes, a whole range of ranges (the Blackbutt, the Brisbane, the Booie and the Stuart Ranges) put paid to any jolly sea breezes for South Burnett.

What the region does have going for it is its soil (rich, fertile, red and black volcanic soils), cool nights (to relieve the hot summer days), and altitude – thanks to those ranges that define the region.

WINE & PEANUTS

The town of Kingaroy (famous for peanuts and premiers) sits roughly at the centre of the region, and the majority of vineyards (Crane, Kingsley Grove e.g.) are clustered here - with a handful (including Barambah and Clovely Estate) further north, around the town of Murgon.

Cradled against the spectacular backdrop of the Bunya Mountains, South Burnett vineyards produce easy drinking Mediterranean style wines, including Verdelho, Semillon and Cab Sauv, and a distinctively dense and leathery Saperavi. But you won’t find too many of them in your local bottle shop. South Burnett’s output is small compared to other Aussie regions, and the best way to experience them is at the cellar door.

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