Ballandean Estate is set to release its 30th vintage of Semillon Sauvignon Blanc on 12 November 2018. Angelo Puglisi, estate founder of Queensland’s oldest family-owned and -operated winery, planted his first Semillon vines in 1973.
He was excited by the possibility of the Granite Belt’s warm days and cold nights delivering intensely-flavoured fruit and divine wine. The ensuing success of the Semillon vines encouraged him to plant Sauvignon Blanc vines in 1985. A wine pioneer, Angelo’s vinicultural vision has delivered 30 vintages of delectably crisp, zesty wine.
“Our 2018 vintage is spectacular. Rich citrus, stone fruit and passionfruit notes, with an acidic spine and delicious limey finish.”
“Ballandean Estate has been making Semillon Sauvignon Blanc for 30 years, and this is reflected in the finesse demonstrated in the blending and the quality of the fruit grown from mature vines,” said Ballandean Estate’s patriarch Mr Puglisi.
“SBS’ Battle of the Vines recently searched for an Australian “Great White” under $20. Two wines were blind profiled by a tasting panel made up of WA and Qld wine industry professionals and the general public. Our 2017 Granite Belt Semillon Sauvignon Blanc by Dylan Rhymer stood up against Faber Vineyard’s 2017 Swan Valley Verdelho by John Griffith. The wine judges described it as beautiful, herbaceous, lime and lemon with tropical fruits—impossible to decide, with voting a dead tie!
“It’s such a great food wine. The beauty of Semillon Sauvignon Blanc is its versatility. Our 30th vintage is a match made in heaven for fresh Queensland seafood—Moreton Bay Bugs, Hervey Bay Scallops or a sand crab lasagne Bianco. You can also pair it with Asian cuisines, hard and soft cheeses, mild curries, salads, fish and chicken dishes,” he said.
Our Shiraz Vineyard Party was a soiree to remember. Fifty years since the first wine grapes were legally planted on the Granite Belt—at Queensland’s oldest operating winery—now THAT’S worth celebrating!
Over 230 guests gathered to revel in the vineyard overlooking the Opera Block Shiraz vines, planted 50 years ago in 1968. The current vintage of 2016 Opera Block Shiraz was flowing, and guests enjoyed a smoker BBQ lunch, live music, croquet, bocce and a 50th birthday cake.
Angelo Puglisi took guests on a tour of the Opera Block vineyard to give them the chance to experience the 50-year-old vineyard. The thick trunks of the Shiraz vines have been lovingly tended to by Angelo’s hands for 50 years. As we witnessed the new flowers bursting on the vines for the 51st vintage to be created in 2019, Angelo was bursting with pride.
Across the weekend attendees were given the opportunity to pre-purchase the 2018 50th Anniversary Edition Opera Block Shiraz, created in a spectacular yet low yielding year. This wine will be released and delivered in November 2019.
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Shiraz plantings on the Opera Block vineyard at Ballandean Estate, Queensland’s oldest family-owned and -operated winery. This makes our wine unique, as most Shiraz vines in Australia are under 15 years old—and the older the vines, the lower the yield and more luscious the fruit. In a nation where most producers pulled up their vines in the late eighties at government behest, this is a remarkable achievement, and testament to the vision of Angelo and Mary Puglisi, pioneers of the wine industry in Queensland.
2018 marks 50 years of Shiraz plantings on the Opera Block vineyard at Ballandean Estate, Queensland’s oldest family-owned and -operated winery.
Estate founder Angelo Puglisi had a vision to develop a viable and sustainable commercial wine industry in the Granite Belt region, and in 1968, he planted a block of Shiraz vines with his new wife Mary on his Ballandean farm, cementing the Puglisi winemaking future.
Mr Puglisi’s remarkable vinicultural legacy will be celebrated with a book launch, The Father of the Queensland Wine Industry – Angelo Puglisi, by Tom McSweeny. The biography will be launched on Friday 2 November 2018 at the Stanthorpe Art Gallery at 6pm.
In a nation where most producers pulled up their vines in the late eighties at government behest, this is a remarkable achievement, and testament to the vision of Angelo and Mary Puglisi, pioneers of the wine industry in Queensland.
“Our cool climate Shiraz is a vinicultural jewel. Most Shiraz vines in Australia are under 15 years old—and the older the vines, the lower the yield and more luscious the fruit,” said Angelo Puglisi.
“I am excited to announce the pre-release of our 50th Anniversary 2018 Opera Block Shiraz at our vineyard party on November 10. 2018 was an exceptionally low-yielding year—we have produced only 150 dozen of the Opera Block Shiraz for this vintage. The long ripening season and cold nights have delivered a delicate cool climate Shiraz, intense purple with concentrated berry fruits. We will be bottling this beauty in 2019.”
Angelo’s decision to convert from table grapes to wine grapes was brave and he and Mary worked hard to produce wines of quality and create a market for their Granite Belt grown wines. Those first vines have been lovingly nurtured over the years and now produce the award-winning Opera Block Shiraz—refined, elegant with intense fruit typical of a cool climate profile.
“Mum and Dad were real pioneers, and they dreamed of a Queensland wine industry at such a young age, at just 25 (Angelo) and 19 years (Mary) of age. . Up until the Puglisi’s 1968 Shiraz planting, wine in Queensland was mainly a by-product of table grape production by a few European families who were selling the grapes to market and using the leftovers to make wine. A far cry from the wine grapes of today!
“Visionaries from the start, the Puglisis visualised opening a cellar door and being the catalyst for Queensland’s Barossa and Hunter Valley on the Granite Belt. They knew that wine tourism would follow once there was wine to sell and some more cellar doors in the region. When they opened the cellar door four years after planting the Shiraz, there were only 300 wineries in Australia—now there is over 3300!
“We have been here a long time, since 1932. The 50 years of Shiraz gives legitimacy to the entire Queensland wine industry. I always say that Mum married the Queensland wine industry when she married Dad. Not only are we celebrating 50 years of Shiraz, the Puglisis are celebrating a golden wedding anniversary too, 50 years strong!” says Robyn Puglisi-Henderson, daughter of Angelo and Mary Puglisi.
What’s great about cool climate Shiraz?
First and foremost, it expresses the terroir – the sense of place with the wines, which you don’t always see in warmer climates.
Shiraz grown in warmer climates such as the Barossa ripens more easily, so the wines will typically feature riper fruit flavours, like blackberry and plum, with a lush profile. Cool climate Shiraz wines are more likely to showcase red fruit notes, a peppery, spicy side and a leaner frame. They are gracious, elegant, lower in alcohol and diverse, making cool climate Shiraz an excellent food-matching wine.
Ballandean Estate’s award-winning single vineyard premium Shiraz is sourced from the Opera Block’s oldest vines, planted in 1968, some of the oldest in Australia. Winemaker Dylan Rhymer has delivered a delicate balance of fruit and French oak in the 2015 vintage. This Shiraz is an eloquent demonstration of the Granite Belt’s terroir, boasting ripe berry and cassis aromas. On the palate, intense blackcurrant, light pepper and spices combine with medium tannins for palate structure and a smooth, lingering finish. Aged for 12 to 15 months in air dried French oak barriques; this wine is one of our most consistent award winners.
Australian Shiraz – a survival story
Australia can lay proud claim to the some of the oldest commercial Shiraz vines in the world. We owe this extraordinary vine heritage to our isolated location and quarantine law, as most of the world suffered the ravages of phylloxera, the vine eating louse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
However in the late sixties, the Australian market turned from sweet fortified ports towards table wines—especially Chardonnay. As late as 1989, the Australian government was still paying growers to uproot old Shiraz vines—a travesty! Sadly, many growers unable to sell their Shiraz crops once the taste for sweet fortified ports lapsed in the early seventies lapsed crops would pull up the old vines and replace them with white grapes.
Most Shiraz vines in Australia are young, barely teenagers, with the exception of a few in the warm climate of the Barossa Valley, where a few families with foresight maintained some vines in a time of flux. Did you know that Yalumba was known as the Oporto of Australia? Or that the backbone of Penfold’s Grange is made up of old vine shiraz?
To The Editor of The Week That Was
Last Friday you mentioned you love Fish and you love Families and we know you love Wine, we have it all in Ballandean.
Fish
You haven’t seen a good fish photo in awhile? This little fish was caught on the Severn River in Ballandean just this week. It was let go after a brief kiss and lives to see another day. (Fish caught and photo taken by Granite Belt locals)
Families
I also love being a ‘family in business’. The pride in our history. The emotional connection to our ancestors who died before we were born, but trod the same ground every day as we do. Equally I love that our children come to work after school every day and Nonna spoils them lasagne for afternoon tea. I have attached my favourite photo, faint as it is, of my sister Leeanne and myself in our vineyard in 1974. No doubt our parents assured the journalist on the day that we would be taking over the winery, it was undoubtedly a hopeful dream in such early days of the Queensland Wine Industry. Over the next 40 years, our parents Angelo and Mary Puglisi not only built an industry, but also a business and a story that we couldn’t resist being a part of.
Wine
Sometimes I love the wine industry and sometimes I don’t. Frost and hail have taken 40% of our vineyards the last two years in a row.
Too often here in Queensland we have to defend our right to be respected in the Australian Wine Industry. This is my family’s 84th vintage on this property and we have been open 7 days a week for 45 years catering to tens of thousands of tourists every year. We hope each of them takes some part of our story home when they leave.
Here on the Granite Belt we are justifiably proud of our achievements. There are five James Halliday 5 star wineries within 25 minutes of our doorstep, and along with our neighbours, we have been named as a James Halliday Top 10 Darkhorse.
It might seem that Qld is far away from the rest of the industry but my husband Ian Henderson is on the board of AGWA and my sister Leeanne Gangemi is on the Small Winemakers Committee of the WFA. You might not find our wines across Australia, but interested somelliers seek us out and satisfied wine tourists are plentiful in our region.
Like so many other boutique wineries, we have a great story, a great family, big hearts and a small marketing budget. We strive hard every day to make great wine. It’s the story we are creating that will be remembered long after the last vintage has been consumed. It’s the story that we are creating that will ultimately convince the next generation to return and write new chapters in the Australian Wine Industry. Lucky for iPhones, I have been taking photos of our kids in the vineyard for years…just in case.
