LIFE IS GRAPE IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

by David Bray

The biggest challenge for Queensland winemakers is getting Queensland people to buy Queensland wine.
The second biggest, is getting restaurants and bottle shops to stock the stuff. A chicken-and-egg dilemma if ever there was.
We can make decent wine, good wine, though not yet perhaps the best. That’s a matter of climate, soil, age and experience. I think we will eventually and in the meantime it’s a pity there’s so much misinformation about the local industry.
But let’s start positively.
I can give you a pretty fair guide to some of our better wines for your next dinner party, because of guidance provided by the Queensland Wine Press Club at the lunch following its recent annual general meeting.
The committee of that club know what they are doing. We were at the impressive new Cricketers’ Club at the Gabba.
Here’s the menu:
On arrival: 2005 Ballandean Estate semillon sauvignon blanc; 2005 Jimbour Station verdelho.

Entree (seared prawn and baby fennel risotto with crisp fried leek and sweet basil coulis): 2004 Bald Mountain reserve chardonnay; 2003 Sirromet vineyard selection semillon; 2005 Symphony Hill chardonnay release 1; 2004 Witches Falls Granite Belt chardonnay.

Main (Magret duck breast wrapped in prosciutto, with parmesan polenta and burnt orange vinaigrette): 2002 Casley Mount Hutton cabernet sauvignon; 2003 Clovelly Estate Left field cabernet sauvignon; 2004 Harrington Glen reserve shiraz; 2004 Rees Road shiraz.

Dessert (local cheese with lavosh bread, fruit and crackers): 2004 Golden Grove shiraz; 2002 Robinsons Family cabernet sauvignon.

Every wine scored medals, three of them gold at The Courier Mail Sofitel Queensland Wine Awards 2005.

So there’s the misinformation? I think it came from the guest speaker (unfortunately listed as “gust speaker”), a public servant holding the imposing title of Director General, Fair Trading, Tourism and Wine Industry Development.
Helen Ringrose told us, among other things, that there are now 140-something wineries in Queensland.
Perhaps she should define “winery”. Her department’s new Wine Map of Queensland, handed out at the lunch, appears to list vineyards as wineries. A winery to this reporter is a place where people make wine, with crushers, fermenters, storage casks and bottling lines. Perhaps a definition is also needed for “wine”. The map - and presumably the director - include “fruit wine”. I wouldn’t.
Ms Ringrose argued strongly that quality is the key to better market acceptance of Queensland wines. Many in the audience reckon price is more important.
There were a couple of good questions. Well, statements as such questions usually turn out to be:
why are some producers permitted to sell wines grown and made interstate as Queensland wines, and
can restauranteurs and bottle shop retailers be either forced to carry or rewarded for carrying a minimum percentage of Queensland wines?
Fairly long-standing questions, both of them, and ones that tend quite strongly to divide the industry and observers.
Whatever, you would be doing yourself and the industry a favour by asking your supplier to stock a few Queensland bottles.

Copyright © 2006 David Bray. Republished with permission.