Review of the Queensland Wine Industry

A personal perspective: John Arlidge , Whiskey Gully Wines, Severnlea, Granite Belt

Published in the Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal

It is no easier than it has ever been to make a dollar out of Queensland wine but plenty of people are willing to try. By all accounts, the industry is thriving.

On the Granite Belt, which sits on the Great Dividing Range , 200 kilometres south west of Brisbane , 48 cellar doors operate. We are as much about tourism as wine and most of the businesses are small.

Vineyards range in size from four acres to 250 acres.

It is picturesque and mountainous with orchards, vineyards, market gardens, bouldery bush and four national parks.

The area’s chief attraction to the major population centres on the coast is that at 750 to 1000 metres elevation, it provides a novel winter break with the opportunity to curl up with wine in front of an open fire.

Temperatures plunge to as low as -12 ˚ C during June, July and August and occasionally – very occasionally – it snows.

Even during summer the nights are cool, typically down to 12 ˚ C or less, and at Ballandean, one of the lower, warmer villages, the average daily maximum temperature over the summer months is 28.8 ˚ C.

In viticultural terms the Granite Belt is an oddity: a cool climate region that, because of its proximity to the tropics, has a long summer.

If that sounds perfect (as other places often do) temper your enthusiasm with this: seasonal rainfall varies wildly; most rain arrives in summer, sometimes in a single deluge; frosts can occur as late as December; and in most years several orchards and vineyards are decimated by hail.

Soils are mainly decomposed granite. One local viticulturist describes growing vines as “advanced hydroponics – the soil is there to keep the plants upright.”

At Whiskey Gully Wines we achieve an average of four tonnes per acre yield through annual nutrition applications and the use of Smart Dyson trellising. Ours are among the more productive vines in the district.

Typically, producers hill vine rows to increase soil depth and improve the irrigation profile. In addition, we use a premium grade weed mat to keep a 900mm weed free zone on young vines and we drip irrigate through the mat.

Because summer rain is part of doing business here, our spray program begins in September with an application of either lime sulphur or wettable sulphur at woolly bud stage to clean the vines up.

When shoots are around 15cm we begin a fortnightly spray pattern of copper hydroxide and wettable sulphur, alternating mancozeb with copper early on and withholding copper during flowering. Sprays continue until new growth ceases in December.

Typically, we apply two to three botrytis sprays per year from different chemical groups. The first application is at flowering, the second at veraison (January) and the third, if needed, during late ripening (February/March).

Pests have never been a problem although African black beetles once neatly ring-barked some newly planted Colombard vines. We used a pyrethrum spray to control them.

Fruit quality has been consistently good and in the three years we have been showing our wines they have picked up 32 awards and trophies including three golds.

Property manager, Angelo Cutuli, is fastidious in the vineyard and we attribute our success to controlled cropping levels, canopy management and good winemaking. We favour an open canopy, which the Smart Dyson trellis allows us to achieve.

Vigorous rootstocks work well in the poor soils. We chose Ramsay rootstock for our Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and, despite the dire predictions of our winemaker, Rod Macpherson, it proved a good choice.

Ripening grapes on the Granite Belt is long and slow. As winemaker, Mark Ravenscroft , points out, summer rain often plays a part in this by knocking back sugar levels.

Nevertheless, in my experience more often than not we achieve excellent phenolic ripeness co-incident with appropriate sugar levels that produce elegant wines.

Late-ripening varieties benefit from the cooler days of March and April; loose bunch styles weather summer rain better than tight ones; for the same reason, thick-skinned varieties fare better than thin.

From where I sit, four important things are happening in the Queensland wine industry at present:

1. Excellent wines, particularly from the Granite Belt, are gaining national and international recognition;
2. New wine areas are emerging;
3. Four or five larger Queensland producers are attempting to meet the general consumer price marks; and,
4. Supported by the Queensland Government, wine tourism is evolving to be an important associated industry.

David Russell QC, president of the Queensland Wine Industry Association and owner of Jimbour Station, on the Darling Downs, opines that while the Granite Belt is now well established as Queensland ’s cool climate area, the question mark is what will be the best warm climate area?

At present, both the Darling Downs and the South Burnett lay claim. Both areas seem set to exceed the Granite Belt’s relatively low production.

Of late there has been a concentration of wine businesses in the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast hinterlands.

The climate in these places is too humid for general grape production and most businesses source fruit from the Granite Belt, South Burnett and the Darling Downs.

These businesses lead the wine tourism push and some magnificent facilities have sprung up such as Kanungra Valley Wines and Albert River Wines.

The Queensland Government is a keen observer of the state’s wine industry and is increasingly a participant, recently appointing a Minister for Wine, Margaret Keech, and announcing new development initiatives.

Brisbane-based Master of Wine, Andrew Corrigan , points out that Queensland may be the first state to forge a strong partnership between Government and the wine industry.

“Traditionally, winemakers are independent people and are suspicious of Government,” he says. “However, the Queensland Government seems determined to leverage gains for the industry, as it provides jobs and tourism opportunities in regional areas.”

The figures

Queensland ’s annual grape crush has grown over 500 per cent in five years.

While still a minnow in national terms (the 2003 crush was just 1.5 per cent of the national total), the state has established itself as a participant in the industry and is recognised as a leader in wine tourism.

The Queensland Government’s Liquor Licensing Division reports that the annual crush was 3,000 tonnes in 2003. It is expected to exceed 5,000 tonnes next year.

Ten regions in the state produce wine, from the established Granite Belt on the Queensland/New South Wales border to Far North Queensland where one family company on the Atherton Tableland produces table wines.

A recent development is the emergence of tropical fruit wine businesses on the tourist strip between Tully and Cairns . Eleven producers are fermenting mangoes, bananas, pineapples, coconuts or other fruits mainly as supplements to mainstream fruit growing businesses.

The Queensland Government includes them in its tally of 144 wine producers plus eight wine merchants.

The wine merchant license is a relatively new initiative that allows people who own neither vineyard nor winery to procure wine through a contract and sell it wholesale or retail.

The majority of vineyards are concentrated in the state’s southeast. Mirroring the national scene, the top ten Queensland producers account for 80 per cent of the state’s production.

Last financial year export income from Queensland wine was almost $750,000 and, during the last three years, twelve of the state’s producers exported to thirteen countries.

Perspectives

Adam Chapman, chief winemaker and managing director, Sirromet Wines, Mt Cotton

Sirromet is one of Queensland ’s largest wine producers and a leader in wine tourism from its fifteen million dollar winery base at Mt Cotton, south of Brisbane .

The company has 300 acres of plantings, chiefly at two vineyards on the Granite Belt but they also have 20 acres of Chambourcin and White Muscat vines at Mt Cotton.

Adam Chapman says every season since the first harvest in 2000 has delivered different conditions. On their path from zero to a million bottles a year this has impacted on wine styles.

“I am convinced that the Granite Belt is the place to be in Queensland and the key to viticulture there is understanding the conditions that occur within each season.”

He nominates Semillon and Shiraz/Viognier blends as the region’s best wines to date but says most varieties are site selective and depend on depth of soil, drainage and other factors.

Chapman picks Verdelho, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay as promising white varieties; Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Merlot among the reds.

“Petit Verdot shows promise. It is able to handle the Granite Belt’s variable conditions. Cabernet Sauvignon can be difficult to ripen in certain seasons.”

Chapman says Sirromet’s Mt Cotton winery sees 1000 visitors a week and charges $5 per head for tasting. It aims to establish its brand as a Queensland icon much like Fourex and Bundaberg Rum.

Eighty per cent of the company’s wines are priced around $12 a bottle.

Sirromet is a trail blazer, being the first Queensland producer to achieve broad distribution (the BWS chain distributes them nationally). They export to the UK , Japan , China and Iceland (Chapman’s wife is a Reykjavik girl).

Gerald Keatinge, Director of Wine and Export, Clovely Estate, Murgon, South Burnett

Clovely Estate is Queensland ’s largest vineyard with 450 acres of vines producing an average of five tonnes per acre.

Soil is basalt over limestone and drains well. The average rainfall is 780 mm and humidity during harvest averages 50 per cent.

Gerald Keatinge observes that getting fruit ripe is not a problem. He says it is important to shade the fruit. The vineyard has two weather stations and their predictive capacity helps with irrigation and spray programs.

Clovely Estate uses a modified Smart Dyson trellis system.

The main plantings are Shiraz , Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Semillon and Verdelho but Clovely is experimenting with Italian varieties.

He nominates Chardonnay, Verdelho and Semillon as the area’s best whites and Shiraz and Petit Verdot in the reds. Merlot can be difficult in some years.

Keatinge sees marketing as the main challenge. Like Sirromet, Clovely Estate is aiming to be a mainstream producer in the $12 to $15 a bottle range.

The company recently signed a distribution contract with Yalumba. “We look at this as a partnership. Yalumba have credibility in the marketplace and we feel that will help us get our wines distributed nationally.”

Clovely Estate exports to the United States , China , New Zealand , Japan and Papua New Guinea .

Mark Ravenscroft , Granite Belt-based contract wine-maker

Mark Ravenscroft came to the Granite Belt from South Africa via Margaret River “where you can grow anything.”

Ravenscroft says summer rain is a restraining factor on the Granite Belt and careful crop control is the key to growing good fruit. Without crop thinning and canopy management summer rain can result in poor fruit.

“You need crop control, good air flow through the vines and it is critical to get spray programs right to keep the fruit free of disease. Crops must be irrigated to reduce stress levels in dry periods.”

Ravenscroft believes the Granite Belt’s chief asset is its proximity to Brisbane and the Gold Coast (2½ hours by car). “We are still mostly undiscovered and we have huge tourism potential.”

Ravenscroft recently established his own vineyard and cellar door at Spring Creek Road on the Granite Belt and opened with a flourish, winning multiple gold medals for a 2002 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

He is also winemaker at Robert Channon Wines. He crafted their Verdelhos that achieved recognition in three successive vintages, plus a Reserve Chardonnay that recently won an Open Class Trophy at the Brisbane Wine Show, the first time a Queensland wine has achieved this.

Ravenscroft nominates Chardonnay, Viognier and Verdelho as suitable white styles for the Granite Belt; Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot in the reds.

“Petit Verdot is doing well and is an emerging variety.”

He detects flintiness in the whites with citrus and lime flavours but says regional character is not a big factor for Granite Belt wines.

“We tend not to get big jammy wines like, for example, the Barossa. The wines here are lean and elegant.”

Ravenscroft came to Stanthorpe seven years ago and has seen “huge advances” that have resulted in consistently good wines.

He attributes the improvement to better quality control in vineyards and better winemaking facilities.

Peter Scudamore-Smith, Master of Wine and contract winemaker, Marburg

Peter Scudamore-Smith sees a great deal of Queensland wine both as a judge and a contract winemaker, sourcing grapes from the Granite Belt, South Burnett and Darling Downs.

He says growing grapes in Queensland poses “interesting challenges”.

“The biggest challenge for Queensland , however, is to move out of the small cellar door mentality and bring wine to the people.”

Scudamore-Smith believes Queensland producers need to increase production and aim to hit the consumer price points of twelve and thirteen dollars a bottle.

“At the moment there are commercial and quality issues.”

Scudamore-Smith says that while the Granite Belt is now established, other regions in Queensland are emerging.

He says some excellent wine is coming out of the South Burnett region and wine operations on the Darling Downs show potential.

He cites Jimbour Station (near Dalby) and Gowrie Estate (near Toowoomba) as examples.

Scudamore-Smith describes himself as a regional blender and sees great potential in this technique for Queensland to make wines that will achieve consumer price marks.

“We get big punchy flavours from the warm areas like the Burnett. The crops are bigger in these areas and we can produce wine more economically.”

Scudamore-Smith sees great potential in Queensland ’s warmer areas and points out that while the Granite Belt gets most recognition, some of the biggest vineyards are in warm areas, including two 50 acre vineyards near Inglewood , about 275 kilometres south west of Brisbane .

“Viticulture still has a long way to go in Queensland ,” says Scudamore-Smith. “Not enough vineyards exercise control over soil moisture and few growers use the most modern sprays.”

He says canopy management is “a must” and understanding disease in some of the newly planted areas is an infant discipline.

“It is important to control crop levels and limit the potential for downy and powdery mildews that pose severe problems during wet summers.

Stuart Pierce, Winemaker, Barambah Ridge, Redgate, South Burnett

Stuart Pierce came to Barambah Ridge, near Murgon, from Adelaide and is increasingly enthusiastic about pioneering a region he believes has tremendous potential for wine making.

“I am certain this area has high potential. Achieving it is the trick!”

The “trick”, according to Pierce, is to understand how vines grow in the area’s often hot and sometimes humid climate where rain can arrive during veraison. “It can be difficult.”

He says that in good seasons the reds, in particular, have excellent colour and flavour.

Barambah Ridge’s 18 acres of vines were planted in 1995/96 on relatively poor soils using a Scott Henry trellis. The soil is loamy clay over lime.

“We get about one and a half to two tonnes per acre,” Pierce says. “The summer days are long and part of the prescription is to give the fruit shading and a sensible watering program.”

He says sprays are important, though he does not like to rely on them too much and he uses canopy management to keep the fruit airy and dry.

The spray program typically involves copper and sulphur sprays, mancozeb plus specialised botrytis sprays at appropriate times.

Pierce says the fruit easily gains one degree Baume per week during summer so timing the harvest is critical.

The mean daily temperature in January at harvest is 23 degrees with maxima up to 40 degrees.

Pierce nominates Shiraz as the area’s best red variety producing richness and blackberry flavours. Early ripening, loose bunched Verdelho is his pick of the white varieties.