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> Granite Belt Wines |
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Queensland’s premier wine region invites you to meet the exciting, growing range of award winning wines. Meet with owners, speak with winemakers, find out more about the winemaking process and take a winery tour. Adopt your favourite wine and take it home! Find out more about Granite Belt Winery Tours at...
www.granitebeltwinecountry.com.au
Wineries on the Granite Belt offer a personal experience of Queensland’s leading wine region… personal attention at cellar doors, and the stories behind the wines explain obvious pride in the wines produced. The emergence of the new Strange Bird Alternative Wine Trail offers less known but exciting varieties to those who are interested in broadening their wine palate and knowledge. (See page 25 for more information). Cellar doors are an eclectic mix of small home sheds to modern purpose built facilities. |
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> Queensland First for Wine Industry |
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The Queensland College of Wine Tourism, incorporating Banca Ridge Winery.
Banca Ridge is the teaching winery of Stanthorpe State High School where “industry and education come together” on the Granite Belt.
The Banca Ridge training program, a first for Queensland, was the winner of the Education Queensland Showcase Award for Excellence in Innovation in 2005. It provided the platform for the development of the Queensland College of Wine Tourism, a new training institute for the Queensland wine tourism industry, built around the Banca Ridge vineyard.
With its University and TAFE education partners, QCWT provides education and training programs across the areas of viticulture, wine making, tourism, hospitality and business studies.
Learn about the Queensland wine industry in the tourism centre, taste the award winning wines in the cellar door and sample the delights of the café, all presented by students in their unique training environment.
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> Did you know? |
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The Granite Belt is situated on the inner or eastern spine of the Great Dividing Range at an altitude of more than 800 metres (2625 feet), making it a table wine region.
Spring frosts, cold nights at the beginning and end of the season, relatively high humidity, peak summer temperatures and intermittent heavy late seasonal rainfall all contribute to a climate that is unusual. The cool winter and dry weather allows for a slow ripening process which results in the development of superior fruit flavours and varietal character. The granite soils are typically sandy and well drained, which is good for viticulture. Some enthusiasts claim that the mineral composition of the soil gives the wine a ‘flinty’ character.
Presently over 1,600 tonnes of grapes are harvested from the region’s vineyards.
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> Prominent Granite Belt Varieties |
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Following info from www.wineintro.com
Shiraz and Syrah are both names for the same red wine grape. The Shiraz grape was once thought to have originated in Persia, but recent research indicates the grape is a native of the Rhone valley, in France. Produced predominantly as a single varietal wine in Australia however mainly blended with other varieties in France.
Cabernet Sauvignon is the name of both the grape and the wine it produces. Cabernet is known as one of the world’s finest red wines, with its depth of complexity and richness of flavour. Other names for this grape and wine are Petit Cabernet, Petit Vidure and Vidure, and in Italy, Uva Francese.
Chardonnay is thought to have originated in Lebanon, and in France Chardonnay became the only grape allowed to be grown in Chablis, Burgundy. These white Bungundy wines were well enjoyed, and the grape is also used in sparkling wines.
Verdelho is a Portuguese variety which performs well in Australia and is used to produce dry, sweet and fortified wine styles. Verdelho is best described as a generously flavoured style, reminiscent of tropical fruits, and balanced with crisp acidity. Rich textured palate, juicy tropical fruit flavours and soft acid.
Sauvignon Blanc has been used for generations in France, and came to California in 1878. In the US it is sometimes called “Fumé Blanc”, a name first coined by Robert Mondavi to play up its smoky flavors. The sales of the wine under this new name now exceed sales under the original name. |
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> Cousins in Wine |
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Tenterfield is continuing to make a splash on the national wine market. Although relatively new to making a name for itself, it does have a long heritage of winemakers and grape growers in its region.
If you find yourself across the border in New South Wales visit Kurrajong Downs with its sweeping views and restaurant, or Doctor’s Nose Wines with its charming Australian cellar door complete with tennis court and picnic facilities.
Click Here for Tenterfield Wineries |
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Expand your wine horizon and try an alternative variety.
Experienced and adventurous wine lovers want more than the classic varieties - and we’ve got them. Lesser known grape
varieties such as Tempranillo, Viognier and Pinot Gris are in production and making inroads into the marketplace. Granite Belt wine producers are embracing these and other alternative varieties. Our Strange Birds - more than 15 wine producers are part of a new alternative wine experience.
Wines produced from the Spanish Tempranillo, Italian
Nebbiolo, Barbera and the French Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Durif, Mourvedre, Petit Verdot and more, are today available on the Granite Belt. Discover these on the Strange Bird Granite Belt
Alternative Wine Trail. Recent plantings of Saperavi (Georgia) and Lagrein (Italy) will soon be additions to the Strange Bird family.
For more information ask for a Strange Bird brochure at the
Visitor Information Centre , participating cellar doors, or go to
www.granitebeltwinecountry.com.au
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> Toasts |
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When friends come together for a meal, a celebration or just drinks and good times - wherever they are - the toast remains an international tradition that wishes health, happiness and prosperity.
Chinese: Ganbei! (dry your cup)
Dutch: Prost! (health)
English: Cheers! (health)
French: Santé (health)
German: Prost! (cheers)
Hebrew: Le´chaim! (to life)
Irish: Sláinte (to your health)
Italian: Per cent´anni! (for one hundred years)
Italian 2: Salute (health)
Japanese: Kanpai! (dry your cup)
Russian: Vashe zdorovie! (to health)
Spanish: Salud! (health)
Welsh: Lechyd da! (health)
The word ‘toast’ comes from an old English habit of putting a piece of burnt bread at the bottom of a goblet to improve the taste of wine.
…Luckily, on the Granite Belt we have ready access to sumptuous award winning wines, although adding a fruit garnish to sparkling wines could be the modern equivalent to burnt toast.
“to the sun that warmed the vineyard, to the juice that turned the wine, to the host who cracked the bottle, and made it yours and mine” |
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> Geographical Indicator |
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In 1993 the Commonwealth Parliament passed the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation Amendment Act to enable the provisions of the EC/Australia Wine Agreement to be enacted. This Act provides for a definition (nationally and internationally) of Geographical Indications (previously known as Regions of Origin) for viticultural districts.
A Geographical Indication (GI) is an official description of a wine region and may be likened to the Appellation system used in France but without many of the restrictions on viticultural and winemaking practices. It requires that any wine labelled as a Granite Belt wine must be made from Granite Belt grown grapes.
The GI Committee of the AWBC is required to consider many criteria when making a GI Determination including history, climate, geology, soils, drainage patterns, harvest dates and traditional names.
The Granite Belt GI is a “region” and is required to be “a single tract which is discrete from adjoining regions and have measurable homogeneity in grape growing attributes”.
The “Application for Determination” of the region as a GI was submitted in March 2000. It includes maps showing its boundaries. The Final Determination has now been made and has entered into the “Register of Protected Names” and is legally enforceable in Australia, the EU and the USA.
The Granite Belt GI is defined in the south and east by the QLD/NSW Border, in the north by a line through the village of Dalveen. In the west a north/south line separates the granite soils to the east from the warmer, drier traprock area in the west of Stanthorpe Shire.
The Granite Belt with its unique climate-soil pattern has the capacity to produce some of Australia’s great wines. (This editorial kindly supplied by… Bob Gray previously of Rumbalara Vineyards) |
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> Wine, The Treatment (and why it's good for you) |
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(An exerpt from the(sydney)magazine of the Sydney Morning Herald Issue #24, by naturopath Nicholas Smith) |
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High Flyers |
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Recent research suggests that the best reds for your wellbeing come from grapes sourced at high altitudes. This is because of the antioxidants. Argentinean cabernet sauvignon grapes have two to six times more antioxidants than those used for other wines. Also faring well are Italian chianti and Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot. |
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Brain Food |
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Studies from the University Hospital of Bordeaux have shown that people who drink moderate amounts of wine daily develop less neurodegenerative brain disease. According to the University of Milan the antioxidant resveratrol, from red wine, is a potent stimulator of a key enzyme in the brain that is involved in nerve regeneration. |
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Hard Cell |
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Resveratrol helps to starve cancer cells by inhibiting the action of a protein that feeds them. Research suggests that a glass of red wine a day gives 13 percent more protection against cancer compared with non-drinkers. |
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Hale and Hearty |
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Scientists now think red wine may especially benefit women's hearts. Resveratrol has been shown by researchers in the US to be similar to oestrogen. This may allow it to bind to oestrogen receptors and have a similar protective role in preventing cardiovascular disease, the risk of which increases after menopause. |
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Glass Action |
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Studies have found that drinking two glasses of red wine a day can cut the chance of having a stroke by 20 percent and a heart attack by 50 percent. Cardiologists are prescribing patients a drop of pinot noir, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon to promote blood flow, reduce cholesterol build up, dilate the arteries and act as an antioxidant. |
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Breath Easy |
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The British Medical Journal says red wine has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that can help common lung diseases. An antioxidant in reds inhibits by up to 90 percent pro-inflammatory chemicals called interleukins and interferon. This may help those with emphysema and chronic bronchitis. |
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Waxing Lyrical |
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Yet another group of chemicals in red wine may lower cholesterol. Scientists at the University of California have found that saponins, which come from the grape skins, work by binding to and preventing the absorption of cholesterol and reducing inflammation. Significant amounts of saponins are found in pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon. |
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Cold Comfort |
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Spanish scientists say red wine stops us developing colds. The antioxidants seem to have a protective effect not seen in beer and spirits. The hypothesis comes from a year-long study of 4000 volunteers, which found that people who drank more than two glasses of red a day had 44 percent fewer colds than teetotalers. |
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Life Support |
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Cutting down on meal portions is believed to help us live longer by increasing the family of sirtuin enzymes. Harvard Medical School has released findings that show the most potent antioxidant molecule in red wine increases sirtuin enzyme activity. |
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Grape White Hope |
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The word around the vineyards is that a new white wine is being developed to challenge the health-giving properties of red. White wine is traditionally made without the use of grape skins, which contain polyphenols. Researchers in Israel are working on a production system that could boost polyphenols in white wine by up to six times. |
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