Ballandean Estate has announced a vineyard party on Saturday 30 November 2024, celebrating the end of spring and the excitement of the new harvest to come. Wine lovers will be joining Angelo Puglisi, the Father of Queensland Wine — and five generations of the Puglisi family — for a soiree to remember. Angelo’s daughter and estate manager Robyn Puglisi-Henderson says,
“Our 2023 vineyard party was in honour of Dad’s 80th birthday and lifetime contribution Queensland’s wine industry. Over 250 people gathered on the Opera Block from far and wide, feasting on a long Italian lunch, dancing in the vines and enjoying Ballandean Estate’s world-class wines. It was heartwarming to celebrate with our amicis.
Robyn Puglisi-Henderson
“This year, we’ll be mixing up the festivities, kicking up our heels and seeing out spring with a splash of sensational wines and a mouth-watering long lunch.
“We can’t wait to see what Italian-trained chef Jason Costanzo will be thrilling our senses with this year. We have a long Ballandean connection with Jason, who is the son of Golden’s Grove’s Sam and Grace Costanzo.
“Our party guests will be revelling to live music from No Relation, lucky door prizes, bocce, croquet, and more. We’ll have a charity raffle in support of Rotary Stanthorpe, for whom we’ve raised more than $1.6 million over the years, thanks to Opera In the Vineyard and charity race days.”
Festivities kick off at 11am and continue until 4pm. Tickets are strictly limited, $80 per person including a glass of sparkling on arrival, Italian buffet lunch and an optional shuttle bus.
You can book tickets here: https://www.trybooking.com/CVAPL
Over the past 80 years, Angelo Puglisi’s family business has been at the forefront of developing and promoting the Queensland wine industry, from modest beginnings to a now multi-million-dollar industry. Queensland’s Angelo Puglisi Grand Champion Wine of Show award is a perpetual acknowledgment to Puglisi’s influence and respect in the industry.
ENDS For all media enquiries please contact: Robyn Puglisi-Henderson Ph: (07) 4684 1226
Ballandean Estate opened the Granite Belt’s first wine lounge on Friday 15 July 2022. Signature restaurant The Barrelroom has been made over into a snug and sophisticated space, designed to make you feel like you’re walking into the Puglisi family cellar.
Fourth-generation vigneron Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi says,
“I’ve been wanting to do this for years! The ultimate space for Ballandean Estate wine-lovers.”
“We hope to provide a first-class, relaxed, extended tasting experience here. Visitors can sit back and indulge in fine wine and local produce from 9am to 5pm each day.
“Our signature grazing platters are accompanied by a tasting of premium wines, of your choice. You can expect to be served wine several times as you enjoy your platter.
“Showcasing our Italian heritage and local artisan producers complements our award-winning wines. We are working with Stanthorpe Cheeses, New England Larder, the Bramble Patch, Ballandean Bakery, Foxy’s Bakery, The Folly Truffles, Cypress Ridge Garlic, Lirah Vinegars, Italian producers Sandhurst and Borgo Brisbane for our traditional Italian salamis.
“Over the last two weeks, the venue has undergone a significant renovation into an intimate moody space, accented by lighting, leather and luxury, with a roaring fire as its heartbeat.”
“Sink into a leather lounge beside the fire, indulge in a wine flight of your choice, a Strange Bird varietal, or a glass of our 50th Anniversary Opera Block Shiraz.”
“The massive increase in visitation over the pandemic has given us the opportunity to innovate with our visitor offering.
“This has been years in the making, and the first time in 30 years we have stepped back from having an onsite restaurant.
“As a family, we live and breathe wine. We want the wine lounge to be an extension of our Italian hospitality, a place where we can share our stories, heritage and of course our world-class wines,” says Ms Puglisi-Gangemi.
Reservations for the wine lounge are now open. Walk-ins will be welcomed. Bookings are recommended. Add The Barrelroom to your must-do list during a visit to the Granite Belt, just over two hours from Brisbane, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast.
Let us take you on a wine adventure! Be the first to try Taste Ballandean, an intimate wine and food tasting experience.
Ballandean Estate Wines continues to tantalise palates with an all-new visitor offering, Taste Ballandean. This is the Granite Belt’s first elevated tasting room experience. It’s your chance to discover the history, winemaking, people and passion of Ballandean Estate, broadening your wine horizons with new varietals andmuseum wines.
Taste Ballandean will showcase the rich tapestry of tradition, winemaking, terroir and storytelling at Queensland’s oldest family-owned and -operated winery.
Fourth-generation vigneron and estate manager Robyn Puglisi-Henderson says,
“We have seen increased interest in tasting our limited release wines from cellar door visitors and our wine club members.
“Our elevated tastings will be intimate and interactive, so you can ask all the questions you’ve always wanted to know about wine. Taste Ballandean is hosted by our wine educators: our most experienced cellar door staff and family members.
Immerse yourself in the world of wine
“Autumn is the perfect time for visitors to experience Taste Ballandean. Your wine adventure begins with an intimate tasting in our Cellar Tasting Room. It’s a seated premium tasting of six limited release wines paired meticulously with seasonal, creative small bites.
“Sample award-winning Strange Birds ™ such as Saperavi, Fiano, Malvasia – or a limited edition 50th Anniversary Opera Block Shiraz.
“We’ll be complementing your elevated tasting with decadent individual tasting platters. Think house-made delicacies, Granite Belt cheeses and local produce.
Hear the stories
“Our family has been making wine on our Granite Belt estate since 1932. There is no better way to experience the real Ballandean Estate than an immersive, interactive elevated tasting.”
Make sure you add Taste Ballandean to your must-do list during a visit to the Granite Belt, just over two hours from Brisbane, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast. Taste Ballandean launches 1 April 2022.
Ballandean Estate’s annual Gamekeepers Dinner is going ahead on Saturday 25 September, with a second round of tickets released because of border closures. This culinary event sells out every year within days and has a culinary pedigree of thirty-plus years.
Ticket Release
Ballandean Estate’s annual Gamekeepers Dinner will be held at 6:30pm on Saturday 25 September at Ballandean Estate Wines, 354 Sundown Rd Ballandean.
Tickets to the all-inclusive degustation are $140 per person, with a courtesy bus available to and from the event for $15 per person round trip.
Bookings are essential; please call (07) 4684 1226 or book tickets directly via https://www.trybooking.com/BPNMM.
Estate manager Robyn Puglisi-Henderson says:
“People just keep coming back for the Gamekeepers Dinner, it’s a feast fit for royalty and chance to experience a mouth-watering array of game served up degustation style, matched with a museum tasting from the Puglisi family cellar.
The Barrelroom is serving up five spectacular courses, starting with Chinese-style Quail Consommé short soup with Quail Dumplings.
“Second and third courses feature Smoked Kangaroo Carpaccio served with potato confit and a garlic saffron crème; followed Wild-shot Goat Ragu tossed with handmade potato gnocchi.
“For the first time we’ll be plating up a Kangaroo Island Duo of Pheasant, oven roasted supreme stuffed with truffled butter; and a Coq au Vin Maryland with golden shallots, local button mushrooms, braised cabbage, crispy prosciutto, confit garlic pomme puree and a chicharron crumb.
“Dessert will be a Stanthorpe Apple Tarte Tatin with vanilla bean gelato and white chocolate nougat, exquisite.
“This year’s tickets sold out on the 28 March, the day of release. A number of our return guests come from over the border and have withdrawn due to lockdown uncertainty, freeing up a very limited number of tickets. Last year was a sold-out intimate event with 70 guests. Decadent food, museum wines and the ambience of The Barrelroom delivers a must-do feast to remember.”
Robyn Puglisi-Henderson
This week Ballandean Estate hosted the Granite Belt’s biggest picnic of 2020, as The Merry Muster, a convoy of seven buses from Brisbane and the Gold Coast, descended on Queensland’s oldest family owned and operated winery. Fourth-generation vigneron Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi says,
“At Ballandean Estate, we are experiencing incredible support as Buy Local, Drink Local and Buy from the Bush is resonating with people in the wake of COVID-19. When Christine Bonner, founder of the Merry Muster, called last week to speak to Barrelroom chefs Matt and Bobbi Wells about last minute menu requests, and mentioned 370 people, I was flabbergasted. It was hard to keep my cool — or contain my excitement!
Those aboard The Merry Muster buses came along with their empty eskies, which they’ve filled with artisan-made Christmas presents, fresh local produce, cheeses and Granite Belt wines. This event has gained tremendous momentum, growing seven times in size this year.”
Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi
We’ve seen an enormous influx of wine tourists at the cellar door and restaurant over the last few months, and this had slipped off my radar.
Naturally Matt and Bobbi had been planning for the menu for weeks and ensuring compliance for the outdoor event under our COVID Safe Plan.
These busloads of beautiful ladies shared their love and supported the Southern Downs through an heart-rending injection of emotional support and much-need funds into our regional economy.
We wanted to give them the best possible locavore picnic experience. The Barrelroom took days preparing the antipasto entrees – we are talking:
- 3850 pieces of sesame lavosh
- 70 kg of hand roasted capsicums
- 40 kg of grilled zucchini
- 40 kg of roasted local mushrooms
- 18 kg of roasted local cherry tomatoes
- 31 kg of local cheese
- 12 kg of slow-roasted beef for the artisan rolls served with hand-made chutney and onion jam
- and 300 pieces of handmade nougat.
All enjoyed outdoors on the Opera Block with music and a lively market atmosphere. “
Today Stanthorpe is hosting its Boutique Christmas shopping day with Bustling markets, Christmas carols and store openings, says Ms Puglisi-Gangemi. For those that couldn’t make the Merry Muster, you can still support regional bush businesses in Brisbane and finish off your Christmas shopping at Buy from the Bush’s Newfarm popup shop. It is open 7 days a week until the 23rd of December.
Menu at www.barrelroomrestaurant.com
Call 07 4684 1326 or text 0448 822 203 to book a table.
Thanks to The Merry Muster and photography from Emma Russell for these gorgeous images from the day
Is your family feast food modern or traditional? Matching your Christmas menu to divine wines is a pleasure. And to make it a make it a breeze, we’ve put together this easy food and wine matching guide. Let us inspire you with some Ballandean delights.
Starters
We like to keep it light and lovely with amuse bouche, fruit platters, smoked salmon blinis, arancini balls , antipasti and heaving platters of prawns. Getting our amici to mingle as they jingle is our aim, so finger food is ideal — give your guests a free hand to hold their drink! A glass of bubbles is a great way to start festivities. Try our Range Reserve Sparkling – it’s light, medium dry, with a delicate bead.
Seafood
What’s a fresh prawn without a squeeze of lemon? Citrus fruits are perfect with seafood, as the acidity offsets the richness of seafood and the sweetness complements delicate flavours.
Our Semillon Sauvignon Blanc marries well with fresh Queensland seafood—Moreton Bay Bugs, prawns, Hervey Bay Scallops, oysters and sand crabs. Look for citrus flavours, mouth-watering and energetic acidity.
For richer seafood such as baked salmon or barramundi, garlic prawns, oysters mornay you need a medium to full bodied wine—why not flirt with Fiano, Viognier, Chardonnay, or a chilled Rosé?
Baked glazed ham
Your porky centrepiece has three things to consider for a good wine match — the saltiness, the spice of the glaze and the fat content.
A sweet glaze needs a succulent fruit-driven wine to offset the saltiness of the ham. Rosé with its raspberry nuances works well, as does Fiano and Viognier.
What about red wine? Choose a fruit-driven red that’s light on the tannins — merlot, shiraz viognier or our sparkling shiraz!
Chicken
Our oaked Opera Block Chardonnay is a match made in heaven with a simple roast chicken. If you have a slightly spicy stuffing or one with fruit like apricots in it, a rich white wine like Viognier or Fiano is a good choice. As for reds, Shiraz Viognier and Rosé are a lovely choice for chicken served with its own juices or with gravy.
Beef and Lamb
Our single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon’s ripe red fruits, tannic structure and herbaceous notes will make hearty beef and lamb roasts sing. If you are sizzling up some steak or lamb chops on the barbie, the tannins in our Opera Block Shiraz are a joy-filled complement— the berry and cassis aromas will make it sing.
Dessert
You can’t go past our Late Harvest Viognier to serve with Pavlova or traditional plum pudding think orange and apricot blossoms with a honeyed botrytis sweetness. If Mum’s making her marvellous mince pies, try our 15yo Blend Fine Old Tawny or Rum and Chocolate Port.
Cheese platter
Chardonnay loves soft creamy cheeses like brie and camembert. Bitey, hard mature cheeses work well with full-bodied whites and tannic reds. Whether you choose Chardonnay, luscious Viognier or juicy Shiraz Viognier you’ll find an easy harmony between the cheese and wine. When it comes to blue, go for gold! Sweet dessert wines and rich fortified wines make the perfect partner for pungent blue cheeses.
