Vintage Short Break in Queensland Wine Capital

The annual wine grape harvest is now underway on the Granite Belt and visitors are winners. A big fat "Fab Feb" welcome mat is being rolled out to visitors to Stanthorpe next month.

Participating Fab Feb operators are providing a few incentives to lure people away from the coastal heat in Feburary. Visitors can access a hot deal through the official website. They will also have the chance to share a personal "money can't buy experience" during February. And to cap that all off everyone who books a Fab Feb deal online will go into the draw to choose from one of three Granite Belt prizes.
Vintage is an exciting time to visit a wine region. This is when you see the grapes being harvested and to take a look behind the scenes of the new vintage.

2010 Vintage Begins on Granite Belt

The first pressing of 2010 wine grapes on the Granite Belt began this week at two Ballandean wineries as part of their contract winemaking services.

On Tuesday Golden Grove Estate pressed Verdelho from Harrisville, west of Brisbane. Today, across the road, Ballandean Estate is pressing Sauvignon Blanc grapes which have been trucked in from vineyards at St. George.

Golden Grove will pick the first of the 2010 Granite Belt fruit in the third week of January. These white Muscat grapes will be made into their popular Muscadean wine. Ballandean Estate's first pick of their own grapes will be the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon in mid February.

Despite late frost and a series of hail storms earlier in the season, which have affected crop levels in some vineyards, quality is looking excellent. Across the Granite Belt veraison is occuring in the red grapes.

Visitors to Granite Belt Buck Trend

A 22% in numbers through the Stanthorpe Visitor Information Centre in 2009 confirms that the impact of the Global Financial Crisis did not harm the Queensland Wine Capital.

In all, more than 43,000 people walked into the Centre last year, which represents approximately 10% of all visitors to the Granite Belt.

What's the big attraction? View the virtual tour here.

How Low Will We Go?

January often sees Queensland sizzle day and night where even the pool or ocean provide little respite from the heat. But that's not the full story....

Just three hours from Brisbane, at 1000 metres above sea level there's a town with the reputation as Queensland's capital of cool. That's Stanthorpe! Even in the middle of summer, overnight temperatures seldom rise above 20 degrees celsius in the Granite Belt region.

Typical overnight temperatures are 5-7 degrees cooler than Brisbane - tomorrow for example folks in the Queensland wine capital will be 'chilling out' with daytime temperatures set to hit a pleasant 21 degrees...while Brisbane will be simmering at 29 degrees. While Quenslanders may be watching to see how high the mercury rises these holidays, in one place at least, it's a question of how low will we go.

Granite Belt Gets Blue

Looking for something cruisey to do this New Year's day?

Slope into the popular Lucas Estate Granite Belt Blues. Three bands will provide all day entertainment including local duo Bevi Aqua, plus rocky Brisbane talent Slidewinder and a new third band, Stolen Mojo. 11am to 5pm Lucas Estate promise to entertain revellers with a broad range of material spanning from early (pre-war) blues through Chicago Blues to modern electric boogie.
For $25 you get all day music and a commemorative wine glass filled with wine. There's great food and wine to choose from for the first 300 tickets holders. Tickets on sale now 07 4683 6365 or email wine@lucasestate.com.au.

Agapanthus Galore on the Range

Picture yourself on top of the Great Dividing Range – you are looking east over a five acre garden featuring an acre of agapanthus, a large waterfall and pond. Sound great? You can share the view with John and Michelle Burton who will open their Liston garden for charity on Saturday 2nd January 2010.

The garden was initially established in 1983, then extended in 1998 and 2002. Just to prove gardening doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag, the new sections were established using 99% of plants from cuttings, division and plants received from friends’ gardens.

The gardens will be open from 9am to dusk at 103 Red Ridge Lane, Liston and you’ll know you are there when you approach the 150 metre driveway which is lined with hydrangeas!

A cake stall, morning and afternoon tea and BBQ lunch will be provided by Bella Rosa’s Tea Rooms. Entry is $5/ adult (children free) with profits set to boost the fundraising efforts of Apple & Grape Harvest Festival Young Ambassador Jessica Williams. Jessica is sponsored by the Burton owned and operated Bella Rosa’s Tea Rooms.
Phone for directions 07 4686 1249.

A super apple a day keeps the predators away

Queensland scientists based on the Granite Belt have unveiled what they believed to be the 'world's best apple', resistant to disease and able to maintain crispy fresh for months.

Most significantly, the RS103-130 apple was created by careful cross-pollination instead of nasty genetic engineering or chemicals. This is great news for both consumers and farmers alike as the super apple is firm, crispy, sweet and boasts a number of attributes including disease resistant properties, hence requiring few if no fungicides at all.

While the apple will not be commercially available for another 5 years it has already attracted international interest and will certainly have a national application as well - bringing fruition (pun intended) to creator Simon Middleton's passion for apples.

If you don't want to wait 5 years, visit Sutton's Apple Cidery during apple season (end of January to end of July) and pick your own - a sure way to guarantee freshness!