QUEENSLAND WINE

Ever wondered what grapes grow the best in sunny QLD? You’re not the only one!

 

Some actually believe that great wine doesn't come from Queensland as you don’t see a lot of it in bottle shops or overseas. This is far from the truth as Queensland produces award-winning wine year after year. The only reason you don’t see Queensland wine as much as some of our other states, is because almost all of the wineries in QLD are boutique and family owned and operated – which in our opinion, are the best kind of wineries!

 

Boutique wineries do not have the capacity to mass-produce to sell to larger merchants, which is actually a great thing as ‘quality’ is their focus, rather than ‘quantity’ like larger commercial wineries.  Winemakers from boutique wineries will see the grapes from start to finish. Grapes are handpicked - not machine picked. There is no need for them to add all the preservatives and cut costs as much as possible like some commercial wineries that are often bought out by large corporations that have no background in winemaking.

 

What I am trying to say is that here in Queensland – we keep the good stuff to ourselves!

 

AWARDS

 

Queensland is often in the spotlight for their unique and interesting wine varieties. Our most famous wine judge and critic in Australia, James Halliday awards many Queensland wineries as 5 star wineries in his book ‘The Wine Companion’ annually. 

 

Every single venue we visit on our tours are hand picked and award winning. We even visit two of ‘James Halliday 5 star wineries’ on our most popular Full Day Wine Tour.

 

CLIMATE

 

Guess what? Although QLD is a warmer state in general, most of our growing regions in QLD are considered cool climate wine regions. Our largest region ‘the Granite Belt’ sometimes even snows in winter. A lot of the wineries on Tamborine Mountain will actually source many of their grape varieties from these cooler regions in Queensland, thus producing cooler climate wines – delicious!

 

 

SIGNITURE VARIETIES

 

Queensland’s signature white grape varieties include Verdelho, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. You will also find many less common Mediterranean grape varieties at our boutique wineries like Fiano, Semillon, Vermentino (to name a few).

 

Queensland’s signature reds include Shiraz (Syrah), Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache and quite a few Mediterranean varieties such as Petite Verdot, Sangiovese, Mourvèdre - the list goes on!