I really needed a getaway and was very keen to explore some more wineries. Despite having a great trip to the Yarra Valley and Tasmania earlier this year I couldn’t get enough! We were hoping to head to the Barossa Valley but COVID and lockdowns had other plans, so we went to the next best thing. We are so lucky in Queensland to have access to the Granite Belt about three hours drive from Brisbane. So we gathered a few friends and headed out for a long weekend of friends, fun and wine! It was a bit of a different trip from what we normally do, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to share my highlights in a guide to the Granite Belt.
The Granite Belt is a very small wine region which is why it sometimes gets overlooked. But the producers here are creating incredible wines in the face of serious adversity. Last year many wineries lost 100 per cent of their harvest due to severe drought and bushfires. When we visited last year (see my guide here) I really felt for the producers and prayed for much-needed rain to help them. Luckily they got some great rain, and this year’s harvest brought new life to this wine region. There was so much to explore and some fantastic wines to try! I was so glad we could bring our friends along to experience everything this unique wine region has to offer.
What makes the Granite Belt unique
The Granite Belt is one of the highest wine regions in Australia with vineyards found up at 1,000 metres above sea level. It has around 240 hectares under vine. The climate is unusually cool (it was -3 degrees when we were there) and has a unique terroir from the region’s 200 million-year-old rock formations.
Most of the producers in the region are small boutique wineries with a huge variety of wines. Small production means that many of the wineries are trying different varieties which means you never find the same wines at each winery. Their Strange Bird wines are what makes this region really special. These are varieties with under 1 per cent under vine in Australia, meaning you can find something you may never get to try in other wine regions. They have a great guide you can use as you explore the region to find these wines too!
What I also love about the boutique feel of the Granite Belt is the people. You often meet the winemaker or owners of the winery at the cellar door. I love this as you get a really personalised experience. You can really feel the passion as you taste the wines. It’s one of my favourite things about the Granite Belt!
Guide to the Granite Belt: Where to stay
There are a few good options of places to stay in the Granite Belt depending on what you’re after. Whether you’re after a cozy cabin with a fireplace, or a bed and breakfast, you can find something to suit your needs and budget. At the moment however tourism is so popular in the region, so it’s important to book early!
We stayed at Quaffers on Storm King last year and I was so blown away by our stay that I knew we had to stay there again. Luckily they still had a two-bedroom and one-bedroom cabin available to suit our group’s size!
Quaffers on Storm King is just out of Stanthorpe on the Storm King dam. Paul and Deb have a number of incredibly modern and spacious cabins that have everything you need from a fireplace to a slow cooker! The two-bedroom cabins are very spacious with two bedrooms with king-sized beds and large bathrooms. The living room was also the perfect size for our entire group of six to enjoy some cheese and wine by the fire. They also include breakfast packs in your stay which you can customise based on what you want – from bacon and eggs to pancakes!
What I also love about this accommodation is they have fire pits near the dam that you can use for afternoon drinks. We loved heading down there with some wine and marshmallows to enjoy the sunset and watch all the stars come out before dinner.
Guide to the Granite Belt: Where to eat
There are so many great places to eat on the Granite Belt that suit any budget. But here are a couple of places that we visited on our trip this year:
Jersey Girls Cafe/Stanthorpe Cheese
Our first stop was Stanthorpe Cheese where we enjoyed one of their cheese platters out on the sun. They also offer cheese tastings at set times as well as other cafe food. I loved the cheese platter as you could choose the cheeses you wanted to include, and it came with assorted relishes, jams and some fresh fruit! You can then take away any of the cheese you love to enjoy later
Vincenzo’s
Vincenzo’s is located at the big apple and was closed last year when we visited. It’s recently reopened and offers both a cafe and a deli stocked with amazing produce. We visited to collect some cheese and meats for a cheese platter to enjoy at our accommodation. They had a great selection to choose from – it was almost too hard to pick!
Vincenzo’s also has a great selection of ready-made meals which is a great way to do dinner after a wine tour. If you also want to sample some of the local wines they have a great selection available to purchase in case you missed one of the cellar doors on your travels! I loved that this was a one-stop-shop for everything you needed and that there was a big focus on local produce.
Granite Belt Brewery
Granite Belt Brewery is a great spot for a casual lunch and a perfect spot for a group. They do dinner as well but their lunch special is great value. At $30 for a main and dessert, you can’t go wrong! The meals were massive and absolutely delicious. It was also great for beer lovers as they had a range of beers to try – whether you wanted a pint or a tasting paddle. For wine lovers like me, there was also a selection of local wines available. It’s perfect for a casual lunch in between winery visits.
Varias
On our winery tour day, we headed to Varias and at the Queensland College of Wine Tourism. It has a great selection of lunch options and is quite well priced. Most of our group got burgers which were under $20 and absolutely delicious.
I got the medley of mains and it was such a fun experience. For $50 you get a sample of three different mains and wines to match with them followed by a dessert. I loved trying the different wines with their food match to see how the wine changed. The food was also absolutely delicious! It was the perfect option for someone like me who can never decide what they feel like eating.
Heavenly Chocolate
If you love chocolate, you need to head to Heavenly Chocolate near Girrawean National Park. It is the perfect spot for enjoying hot chocolate in their garden. They have so many flavours to try, along with a selection of handmade chocolates. The best part is all the animals on the property. We loved checking out the chickens while we enjoyed our drinks in the sun.
Balancing Heart Vineyard
Balancing Heart is a new kid on the block in the region but is bringing something different to the scene, and I think they are only going to get better. They have a huge expansion planned which I can’t wait to check out! But the best part was enjoying a wine tasting and lunch outside in the sunshine. They have a beautiful outside area with plenty of tables and chairs to sit at and enjoy the live music. You could order wine by the glass or bottle to enjoy with your meal with platters and pizzas to enjoy. The pizzas were absolutely delicious and blew us away! It was the perfect end to our trip and we ended up staying for hours soaking up the live music and sunshine. None of us wanted to leave!
Guide to the Granite Belt: Favourite Cellar Doors
And now for the fun bit – the cellar doors! We visited quite a few cellar doors on our trip, and here are my favourites from this year’s trip:
Golden Grove Estate
Golden Grove Estate was probably our favourite winery that we visited as a group. It was the first stop on our winery tour and we had a fantastic tasting with the winemaker Ray. Golden Grove Estate is a family-run winery that has been passed down through the generations. Now Ray produces wines that are unique to the region with plenty of Mediterranean varieties to sample. He loves to try new things so you’ll always find something different. I absolutely loved every wine we tried from their Rose Brose to their premium Shiraz. They also have beautiful labels which have been commissioned by an artist that really make the wines pop!
Golden Grove Estate lost all their grapes last year so it was fantastic to see they’re back creating some incredible wines for us to enjoy. I’m so glad they are back on their feet!
Balancing Heart Vineyard
I mentioned Balancing Heart above but didn’t go into their wines. This is a must-visit for its cellar door experience. The cellar door is so well thought out and perfect for enjoying an afternoon in the sun. It will only get better with their expansion plans!
But the wines are delicious too! Many were sold out which shows how good they are, but we were told there will be plenty more on offer in the coming weeks. Mike Hayes is the winemaker and is producing some incredible wines for Balancing Heart. When we visited last year the new owner had only really just started, and it was fantastic to see the transformation he had done in just one year.
In terms of my favourite wines, the Shiraz has always been a favourite of mine and was a favourite of the group. But I also loved their Chardonnay which was low acid and incredibly refreshing.
Whiskey Gully Wines
Whiskey Gully is a winery we always visit on our trips and this year was no different. It is set in a beautiful old house that offers a perfect spot for enjoying their wine. Unfortunately, they were out of many of their wines with a restock in a couple of weeks time, but the wines we did try were absolutely delicious! A favourite of ours was the Republique Red which was an easy-drinking and crowd-pleasing wine we enjoyed that night over the fire.
Girraween Estate
I’d never visited Girraween Estate before and it was definitely one of my highlights. I’m not sure why I haven’t been before but now I am so glad we made the time. It is located next to Balancing Heart and is a small winery producing incredible wines. I honestly loved every single wine that I tried! But the highlight for me was chatting to the owner about the different wines and decisions they’d made in the winemaking for each of them.
The highlight wines for me were the sparkling wines which are a little hard to come by in the Granite Belt. They were both so different in their flavours but incredibly refreshing.
Ridgemill Estate
We didn’t visit Ridgemill Estate last year so I was very excited to get back there. It is one of the more well-known wineries in the area and it is easy to see why. The real winner for our group (other than the wine of course) was the goats! When you pull up you can go over to the goats and say hello. They are very cute and you might even be able to feed them if you’re lucky!
The animal love followed us into the cellar door with their very friendly cellar door cat who loves jumping up into your lap for a cuddle. We loved enjoying some pats while sipping on the wines. The wines themselves were also delicious and offered a great range of varieties and styles. My favourite was the Hammer Shiraz but they also produced a great sparkling wine which we enjoyed over some cheese that night.
Granite Ridge Wines
Granite Ridge Wines is one of our favourite wineries in the Granite Belt. We always seem to have their wines on hand. But this time we hadn’t planned to visit their cellar door as we do tend to visit every time we go. But after trying some of their wines from Vincenzo’s on the first night, it was a group consensus that we needed to head there to give the rest of their wines a go. So we did and we certainly weren’t disappointed!
Granite Ridge produces a great range of wines that are sure to tick the box for anyone. They have an unoaked and oaked Chardonnay (the oaked being one of our favourites), along with some sweet wines, a huge range of reds and even some chocolate liqueurs! I love the variety of flavours in this generous tasting, but we did end up grabbing a few more bottles of the groups favourite: The Fergie’s Hill!
Pyramid Road Wines
I always love visiting Pyramid Road Wines because I leave with more knowledge than I left. The owners always take the time to talk you through not only their wines but why they taste the way they do. I have never been to such an informative cellar door! Although they didn’t have as much stock as they usually do, I loved their range of wines. They had made a couple of wines from 2020 but in a different style that was much lighter than they usually produce. Talk about making hay while the sun shines!
In summary: Guide to the Granite Belt
I hope this article has helped to put the Granite Belt onto your wine map. This small but mighty wine region produces some incredible wines. But its the people that really make it. They’ve been through a lot in the past few years, and I’m so glad to see them on the other side of it. I can’t wait to see more of the 2021 vintage as it is released, and we’re already planning our next trip back!