Queensland's Booming Region

Hospitality - January 2006

Anyone returning to Queensland’s South Burnett region after a decade’s absence would be amazed by the transformation that has taken place. More than 30 vineyards have sprung up during that time and their enterprising owners have turned it into the complete tourism experience. At least 14 of the vineyards have cellar doors, many of them open seven days a week, and many with cafes – quite remarkable for such a new wine region. Evidence that they are in the tourism business as much as wine is that their best-selling wines are generally on the sweeter side, which winemakers readily acknowledge is a concession to the local market. This is not to say the winemakers don’t take their wines seriously. Considerable work has been done in both viticulture and winemaking to produce wines that reflect their varietal character.

Located around Kingaroy and Murgon, about three hours drive north-west of Brisbane, it’s a pretty area with rich fertile soils, grassy rolling hills and an altitude of 300-500 metres. According to a Queensland Government website, it is the fastest developing wine area in Queensland. It got its kick-start in 1994, when the Macarthur Report, commissioned by the Queensland Department of State Development, identified the area as having a viticulture environment similar to the Hunter Valley. As in the Hunter, Verdelho performs well, and it’s a variety that Queensland consumers have taken to with enthusiasm. Semillon, Chardonnay and Shiraz also do well, though in my own tastings, I found the Cabernet Sauvignon to be of a consistently higher quality than the Shiraz.

The president of the South Burnett Wine Industry Association, Craig Gillett, who with his wife Pauline runs Tipperary Estate, believes winemakers should be making the best of their terroir, rather than trying to replicate what those in the southern states are doing. “Verdelho will really be the star of the region,” he said. “It doesn’t mind the warm weather and it’s an early ripener. We start picking Verdelho in mid-January. At that time, we haven’t got a lot of rain, and we have warm days and cool nights. It suits the soil too.” The Gilletts, keen wine drinkers who have visited “just about every cellar door in Australia”, were amazed at what they found when they came to South Burnett in the late 1990s. “One of the things that fascinated us was that we were drinking wines off very young vines that were already showing good varietal character,” said Craig. They opened their cellar door and Vintner’s restaurant last year, and have already won medals for their Shiraz and Verdelho.

They currently have their wines made for them by nearby Clovely Estate, Queensland’s largest producer with 170 hectares of plantings including the Italian varieties Barbera, Sangiovese and Nebbiolo. “The vines are six to seven years old now and are starting to settle down so we’re getting greater conformity of fruit and that flows right through to the end quality of the wine,” said viticulturalist Sean Cox. Winemaker Luke Fitzpatrick produces Clovely’s easy-drinking Left Field and Queensland ranges, and a Reserve range. Sean nominates Verdelho and Semillon as the region’s best varieties, but says Petit Verdot could also be a star: “We always seem to get great colour out of it. And Cabernet’s coming along quite well. It’s well-suited here. It’s robust, it has thick skin and it doesn’t produce big berries. It has plenty of acid, good colour and good tannins.”

Sean dismisses the commonly held perception that Queensland can’t produce wine. “Like every region, you have to exploit the good points. We’re prone to getting storms in summer but we work out viticultural strategies to get around that.” With a mean January temperature of 23.8°C, the climate is more moderate, says Sean, than the Riverland and Sunraysia wine regions. Good canopy management protects the fruit from overexposure. Ten acres of their Shiraz vines are given an unusual method of double-pruning, which allows the fruit to be picked later, thereby resulting in a superior quality. It’s an expensive process but worth it, according to Maryanne Pidcock of Captain’s Paddock, who with her partner Peter Eaton was the first in the region to introduce the method.

“We experiment with an acre of Shiraz each year and take it back to a two-bud spur so that it re-shoots and goes through the whole cycle again.” This allows the fruit to be picked in May or June, resulting in a wine that more closely resembles a cool-climate Shiraz. “The fruit comes back with more intense flavour and in theory has a longer ripening period. (It means) we’re ripening in autumn and not in the hot summer.” The small amount of 2003 Shiraz produced in this way is drinking superbly. The idea for doing it came from winemaker Charles Briganza, who was working in Kingaroy but is now at Casella Wines in Griffith. “Our viticulturalist was very nervous about it but being new to the industry we were open to new ideas,” said Maryanne, who is president of the Queensland Wine Industry Association.

Captain’s Paddock Rosetta, a Rose style blend of Chardonnay and Merlot, is their most popular wine, as it is for Ziebarth Wines, where the blend is comprised of Cabernet and Semillon. Janet and Bernard Ziebarth have one of the region’s loveliest cellar doors, housed in a 1930s Queenslander built by Janet’s grandfather. Sue Kinsella, who runs Moffatdale Ridge with her husband Jason, also comes from a family of early settlers, the property passing out of family hands for a few years before they bought it back in 1996. As a concession to local palates, they do both a straight verdelho and a slightly sweeter verdelho, simply labelled Late Harvest White. They are thought to be the region’s only producers of Botrytis Semillon, and they also do a sparkling wine, made from Verdelho and Chardonnay.

Both Moffatdale and Crane Wines are planning to add bed and breakfast accommodation, though Judy Cooper says she and her husband Bernie have been so busy since taking over Crane’s in January 2005 that “the romantic notions like turning the house into a B & B” have had to wait. The Coopers took over from John and Sue Crane, who planted their first vines in 1993 and opened the region’s first winery and cellar door. Crane’s 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon was named best red at the 2004 Queensland Wine Awards, while the 2003 Reserve Shiraz is velvety with lovely sweet fruit, the concentrated grapes a product of the drought. Their fortified Late Harvest Frontignac was also a winner at the 2004 awards.

Just as the Coopers were seeking a new lifestyle, so too were Mike and Pat Berry, who established Kingsley Grove in 1998. As well as the usual line-up, they make three sparkling wines, a white from Semillon, a red from Chambourcin, and best of all, a sparkling Rose made from a Semillon Chambourcin blend. Pick of their table wines is a 2004 Sangiovese and 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, while their winemaker son Simon is especially proud of the 2005 Merlot due for release next year.

One of the region’s strongest line-ups is produced by Stuart Range, which makes its wine in the historic Kingaroy butter factory. Graham Helmhold makes three ranges: Goodger, Red Ant and Stuart Range red and white, the latter being the ubiquitous semi-sweet blends, though in this case they make for quite pleasant drinking. Graham produces one of the region’s best Chardonnays under the Goodger label and a fine Shiraz Cabernet blend under the Red Ant label. Maryanne Pidcock says she realised on her first visit to South Burnett that “the Queensland wine industry was not a gimmick”. She’s pleased she made the move. “I pinch myself every time I walk down the driveway,” she said. “It’s extraordinary to wake up to this every day.”

© Christine Salins

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