Wines of Queensland

Many would consider Queensland to be too far north and too tropical for good wines. But in fact many areas of Queensland are modified by elevation and even where this is not the case a number of excellent wine varieties quite like the conditions imposed by a semi-tropical climate. While only two regions are officially designated wine regions, the full list of the Queensland regions where wine grows is quite impressive: Granite Belt, South Burnett (both ‘official’), Darling Downs, Gold Coast Hinterland, North Burnett, Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Brisbane and the Scenic Rim, Somerset Valleys, Western Downs, and North Queensland.

Today the wine regions of Queensland are much affected by the high temperatures and humidity of its sub-tropical and tropical climate. But when the first Aboriginal people arrived in Queensland some 40,000 or more years ago, the climate was a much cooler one, allowing for greater forest cover. As temperatures gradually rose, these people learned to adapt to the much drier conditions that prevail over most of the state today.

The European history of Queensland begins, like Western Australia’s, with the Dutch. In this case, Dutch ships arrived off the far north of Australia, around the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape York Peninsula in the early 1600s. More well-known is Cook’s voyage, along Queensland's east coast in the Endeavour and his unfortunate run in with the Great Barrier Reef.

Soon after this, Queensland began to take shape as an extension of New South Wales. It was from Sydney that soldiers and convicts were sent to establish Brisbane in 1825. As the affairs of this town and its surrounds grew, administration from distant Sydney proved tiresome and locals soon requested a separation, which occurred in 1859. Since then Queensland has been self-governing, and although this did lead to the election of Joh Bjelke-Petersen as Premier for a period, generally this has worked well. 

A few regions, such as around Roma and Mt Tamborine had wine production in the 19^th century but as in the rest of Australia this did not continue. The exception was at Romaville Vineyards where a wide range of wines have been continuously made since the mid-19^th century. More recently many new areas have been planted in grapes as well as older areas such as in the Granite Belt region have been replanted. The result is that while often small in comparison to the Hunter or Barossa Valley, Queensland’s wine regions can stand very favorable comparison.

Queensland is a big state and one that stretches from north to south, as such it has a wide range of climatic conditions, not all favorable to wines. But in the south-east corner quite a number of regions combine warm, wet summers and dry cool winters that allow many grape varieties to ripen beautifully. When this is combined with mountain ranges the capacity to grow varieties expands even more.

While standard varieties such as Chardonnay, Semillon, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon are popular in all Queensland regions, many alternative varieties are also grown, particularly in the Granite Belt, which even has a wine trail devoted to such wines. Wines of an even more ‘alternative’ nature are those grown in the far north of Queensland, around the Cairns-Atherton Tablelands. Here grapes are passed over (naturally given the tropical climate), for wines made from such tropical fruits as the mango, banana, lychee, pineapple, passionfruit, black sapote (or chocolate pudding fruit and related to the persimmon), and the pitaya (also called the dragon fruit or strawberry pear), not to mention such native fruits as the Davidson Plum and Lemon Aspen.

One of these North Queensland wineries is the dramatically named Murdering Point Winery. Here can be sampled a range of fruit wines and ports created by the Berryman family since 2001. Further south can be found the Romavilla vineyard, one that has relied on grapes only to produce its wines since 1863, and so easily Queensland’s oldest; though the many vineyards of Queensland that have only operated since the 1980s and 1990s have nothing to be ashamed of.

Queensland is unique in many respects but one of these is in its official efforts to promote its wine industry. This includes having a government minister responsible for promoting wine and wine tourism. Also, as part of this promotion effort, there is the Queensland College of Wine Tourism, a combined operation of the Department of Education and the University of Southern Queensland. The college opened in 2007 and is well supported by the Queensland Wine Industry and the Department of Tourism. The college has its own winery, cellar door and bistro to enable students to learn in a hands-on environment.

Events at which you can enjoy some of Queensland’s excellent wine products are the Brisbane Fine Wine Festival, a three day event held in June, the Hampton High Country Food & Arts Festival, in May, and the Royal Queensland Wine Show, in July.

Most production in Queensland is of table wines such as Semillon, Shiraz and Cabernet, but fine sparkling wines come from a number of vineyards in the Granite Belt. Romavilla is among several estates that also produce fortified wines, and both Merlot and Shiraz are varieties that show great promise in a number of regions.