Over 150 punters flocked to Ballandean Estate’s inaugural Autumn Race Day on Sunday 2 May 2020. Aimee McKean and Madeleine Green from Brisbane won the Vineyard Cup with syndicate Madeleine’s Fury. They will be hosting an exclusive Ballandean Estate pop-up tasting at home with ten lucky friends.
Leeanne and Robyn to visit Brisbane for pop-up tasting party
Having the Puglisi sisters in my home pouring some of Queensland’s finest wines to match the menu we put together is going to take festive to the next level. We feel like family every time we visit, can’t wait to return their warmth and hospitality!
We’ve been coming to Opera in the Vineyard as a group for years and are thrilled to be back at Ballandean Estate for Rotary’s charity fundraiser.
We simply could not resist a long weekend on the Granite Belt combined with the chance to dress up, indulge in a long lunch from The Barrelroom and enjoy the party atmosphere, all in the beating heart of Ballandean. Our group stayed at Accommodation Creek Cottages just down the road from the vineyard. We will be back again same time next year for Autumn Race Day 2022.”
Madeleine Green
Charity fundraiser takes on new format
Event ambassador and fourth-generation vigneron Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi says,
It’s been a rollercoaster to get here, this event has been 18 months in the making due to COVID. Our punters have come from as far as Noosa and Brisbane, complemented by a massive show of support from our local punters and businesses such as Stanthorpe Jewellers, Lirah Vinegar, Sancerre Estate, Just Red Wines, Suttons Juice Factory, the Stanthorpe Races and the Queensland College of Wine Tourism.
We’ve had fashions on the field, raffles, alternative races, lucky door prizes, live music from Cole Train and a great day out in the vines. This year, funds raised will be distributed to Stanthorpe charities.
Autumn Race Day major prize winners will be coming back for a return trip to the Granite Belt to experience the Stanthorpe Races in October 2021, accommodation for two at Just Red cabins including breakfast, tickets to the Stanthorpe races, transfers to and from the event, 1 dozen bottles of Ballandean Estate wines, and lunch at the Queensland College of Wine Tourism.
Rotary Club Stanthorpe’s charity fundraiser Opera in the Vineyard raised over $1 million for charity in partnership with Ballandean Estate. After 27 brilliant events, we have shaken up the format to create a new experience for the Granite Belt.”
Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi
The Australia Day long weekend on the Granite Belt has smashed visitation records, with wineries and accommodation houses recording a visitor influx that has operators pumped for a stellar year ahead.
Booming at our cellar door
Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi, fourth-generation vigneron and long-time Granite Belt ambassador says:
“The last few days at the Ballandean Estate’s cellar door have been mind-blowing, we’ve shared our estate-grown and estate-made wines with over 1000 amicis!
People have started their Australia Day escape early, with an abundance of first-timers making their way out to Ballandean Estate to do their first tasting of the weekend. These are people who’ve had friends visit the Granite Belt for the first time over winter and spring, and are keen to experience our delights based on the strength of the stories they’ve been told.
Many are still nervous to travel outside of Queensland given ongoing uncertainty with borders, and we have found a lot of grey nomads from the Queensland’s south-east are making their way out to the Granite Belt and starting their first big outback adventure, heading for places like Goondiwindi, St George, Charleville, Winton, Longreach and Carnarvon. Food, wine, fossils, gorges and dinosaurs!”
Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi
Booked out at the Granite Belt Motel
At the Granite Belt Motel, which has a multimillion-dollar renovation well underway, owner-operator Michael Jensen reports:
“Not only have we been fully booked for Friday and Saturday nights, we are at capacity mid-week too. Momentum continues to build for our business and the region, with major projects underway: road works, a new dam, windfarm and new attractions and venues planned or under build.
We are seeing a lot of families coming here for the weekend, getting out to the orchards and picking stone fruit, meeting alpacas, gathering strawberries, exploring the maze and walking and swimming in our waterways and national parks.”
Michael Jensen
Ms Puglisi-Gangemi of Ballandean Estate, Queensland’s oldest family owned and operated winery, hopes that Queenslanders continue to support pandemic safety measures and adapt to change.
“The Granite Belt is continuing to build on its reputation as a safe destination. It is fantastic our visitors really understand the importance of hand hygiene, social distancing and contact tracing.”
Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi
Sammi and Andy from Toowoomba at Ballandean Estate Wines planning their upcoming wedding 
The beating heart of the Granite Belt
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Stephanie Elms and Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi getting ready for influx of cellar door weekend visitors as they taste-test Australia Day wine.
Estate founder Angelo Puglisi has spent over 50 years building his reputation as the father of Queensland wine and industry, from the day he rolled into town with two trucks carrying 1000-gallon barrels down the main street of Stanthorpe back in 1971. His experimentation with Italian varietals has been a major contribution to the establishment of the Strange Bird™ alternative wine trail.
Fourth-generation vigneron and daughter Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi says,
“We love our Italian varietals! It’s not just the increased diversity of bouquet and flavour, it’s structure: and most importantly, acid. We grow these Strange Birds™ for their natural acid balance. This delivers a fresh expression of our granitic terroir and a minimal intervention approach to the winemaking process.
Our GFM blend is sunshine in a bottle, think the Granite Belt meets Sicily! Island vibes, coastal cool, hints of pineapple, stone fruit and a delicious full body with a great weight of palate and crisp dry finish.
These rare varietals are now even more precious given the challenges our vintage faced last year with weather events. We’ve picked just one-sixth of last year’s volume: 400 kilos of Malvasia, 500 kilos of Fiano and 800 kg of Moscato Giallo.”
Ticket Release
- Alcohol: 12%
- Price: $30
- Closure: Screwcap
- Drink: 2020-21
- Fruit: 24% Malvasia, 29% Fiano, 47% Giallo, single vineyard from Bellevue at Ballandean, 850m above sea level
- Winemaking: A mix of whole bunch and destemmed fruit was combined into the press. The juice was settled quickly in stainless before yeast was added. Stabilised, no finings added, filtered and bottled, unoaked.
“We are beyond proud of our Fiano’s pedigree, its third vintage taking out Winestate’s Top Alternative White award. Our Malvasia has been our fastest moving white wine at the cellar door, selling out just months after its 2019 release!
Our GFM will not last long, as just 109 cases were made, of which 60 have been put aside for our Ballandean Gold club’s summer delivery,”
says Ms Puglisi-Gangemi.
Ballandean Estate’s GFM 2020 vintage will be available for tasting and sale at the cellar door and for online from Friday 23 October.
Queensland’s oldest family-owned and -operated winery future-proofed its reputation for world-class Shiraz by planting 5000 Shiraz plants next to the Opera Block vineyard at Ballandean Estate last week.
Fourth-generation vigneron Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi says,
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.
Fifty years on, these vines are bearing incredible fruit. However, the yield is considerably reduced, down to one tonne an acre. Optimal yield for production is two tonnes an acre.
Dad (father of Queensland wine Angelo Puglisi) was itching to try out a new Shiraz clone on a block that we had lying fallow for the last five years, once home to cabernet vines.
Shiraz is our signature varietal, and we wanted to ensure our ability to meet the market in years to come.
The new vines will be bearing fruit next season, however, we will be knocking the first few yields off the vine to establish a stronger root system. By 2025, we should be seeing the first harvest.
Such a brilliant week in the vineyard, with bud burst underway and all hands on deck! We’ve had Dad, myself, my sister Robyn, vineyard manager Robyn Robertson, Tash Banbury, Peter Wade, plus Jason Costanzo and his vineyard team from Golden Grove Estate getting their hands dirty with the planting, which took five days,”
says Ms Puglisi-Gangemi.
In the next few months Ballandean Estate will be releasing its much-anticipated 50th vintage of Shiraz.
“Our cool climate Shiraz is a vinicultural jewel. 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 bottled this beauty back in 2019.”
For all media enquiries please contact:
Robyn Puglisi-Henderson or Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi
Ph: (07) 4684 1226
After opening its doors ten days ago to interstate visitors, Ballandean Estate Wines is reporting a minimal impact on visitation. Queenslanders continue to embrace a wine country getaway as visitors pour in from the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane primarily.
Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi, fourth-generation vigneron at Queensland’s oldest family-owned and -operated winery on the Granite Belt, says,
Like all businesses along the NSW-QLD border, we’ve been intrigued as to how the lifting of border restrictions will impact our business. Before Victoria’s COVID situation escalated, we were anticipating an influx of grey nomads.
Since the borders re-opened, we have hardly any visitors identify as from New South Wales. And yes, we’ve been asking! Everyone who comes through our cellar door is required to sign in under our COVID-safe venue plan.
Up until the last few weeks, most of our visitors have been return visitors that know and love the Granite Belt for all of its natural beauty, fine wine, abundant gourmet delights, quirky charms and country hospitality.
What we have been thrilled to discover is that a huge proportion of our Queenslander visitors are here on the Granite Belt for the first time. For so many Queenslanders, the Granite Belt has been sitting on their ‘One Day’ wish list. Now it seems that has rapidly changed to ‘This Year’ and ‘Good to Go!’
Until you experience the glory of the Granite Belt in person, it can be hard to compete with the abundance of destinations within an hour of Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
If the last few weeks are anything to go by, the Granite Belt is set for its best spring season yet! This has traditionally been a quieter time of year. However, we have tastings booked up online through to September, and accommodation house are reporting unheard-of occupancy rates.
I expect that our Tenterfield locals are staying put to avoid the border patrol, and that our southern visitors are either staying put or venturing further north chasing the sun after months of border restrictions.
We hope that Queensland continues to remain COVID-safe and that we can maintain then improve upon the current level of restriction for venues. I think that people are really understanding the importance of hand hygiene, social distancing and contact tracing at venues.
Our cellar door hand Elijah Smith made me a hand sanitiser holster to help me keep safe as I serve tastings to over 500 people each weekend.
Ms Puglisi-Gangemi was instrumental in successfully lobbying the Office of Liquor and Gaming for some easing of restrictions and is an active member of the Queensland Wine Industry Association .
How to make sure you book an unforgettable wine tasting experience at Ballandean Estate
- We’d love it if you could book your tasting in advance online or over the phone. Our peak times are over lunch and on Saturdays, and we highly recommend booking first.
- If you want to come in on the day and have not yet booked, we ask that you pick up the phone and call us on (07) 4684 1226 so that we can fit you in.
- Walk-ins are always welcome, keep your beanie handy as we could be wine-tasting under the pergola in the winter sun if there is an overflow of people.
ENDS
For all media enquiries please contact: Robyn Puglisi-Henderson or Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi
Ph: (07) 4684 1226 Leeanne@ballandeanestate.com, Robyn@ballandeanestate.com 354 Sundown Rd Ballandean 4382 www.ballandeanestate.com
Welcome to Ballandean Estate, Queensland’s oldest family owned and operated winery. Our family has been making wine on our Granite Belt estate since 1932, and we would love to share our estate grown and made wines with you. This year we are celebrating 50 years of Shiraz plantings in our high altitude vineyard and our 30th vintage of Semillon Sauvignon Blanc. As a multi-awarded 4.5-star winery, Ballandean Estate has an excellent range of mainstream and alternative wines that showcase our cool climate and granite terroir with elegance—just marvellous matched with Queensland’s outstanding produce.
Granite Belt winery operators Leanne Puglisi-Gangemi of Ballandean Estate and Warren Smith of Pyramid Road Wines have a starring role in Tourism Queensland’s latest campaign, It’s a beautiful place to holiday here.
#HolidayHereThisYear
Fourth-generation vigneron and regional tourism ambassador Leanne Puglisi-Gangemi says,
It is just so good to see cellar doors from the Granite Belt featured on this video!
“A lot of the time Queensland promotions are beach-centric, but we have such diversity on offer. From cool climate wineries, gourmet food trails, country hospitality, the Outback, and the world’s oldest surviving tropical rainforest—Queensland is so much more than the reef and the beach. It’s a beautiful place for a wine holiday here!
Leanne Puglisi-Gangemi
Quick action sees Granite Belt wineries enjoy a starring role
Robyn Puglisi-Henderson, sister and Ballandean Estate business manager says,
Warren and I had to move quickly on this! TQ sent out the invite on Friday, and we had to submit video footage shot on our phones that day for editing.
“We’ve joined Robert Irwin and a host of Queensland tourism operators to produce a video which will be used across social platforms to tell Australians that Queensland is ‘a beautiful place to holiday here this year’ and invite them to visit.
“It’s part of a $2 million dollar campaign showcasing to Australians why Queensland is ‘a beautiful place to holiday here this year‘, and builds on Tourism Australia’s campaign launched in late January in response to the bushfires.”
Robyn Puglisi-Henderson
You can view the video here: https://www.queensland.com/holidayhere
If you are sharing the video, make sure you use hashtags #HolidayHereThisYear and #thisisqueensland in your post.
Ballandean Estate has a rich history of empowered women in wine. Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi was recently voted onto the Winemaker’s Federation board, and is Queensland’s first female voice and vote.
At just 19 years of age, estate matriarch and wine pioneer Mary Puglisi visualised opening a cellar door and being the catalyst for Queensland’s Barossa and Hunter Valley on the Granite Belt with husband Angelo Puglisi. She has spent over 50 years looking after tourists and has won the prestigious Samuel Basset award for her contribution to the Queensland wine industry.
Angelo’s mother Josephine was a true Australian pioneer and business woman. Arriving in Australia from Sicily at just 12 years of age, she went on to build the foundation of Ballandean Estate with her father and husband over four decades. She stared down the Australian army demanding to put her husband and father in internment camps and surrender of farm machinery during World War 2, and instead, she negotiated a deal to supply their crops to feed the Army as an alternative. Inspirational!
Ballandean Estate’s Business and Export Manager Robyn Puglisi-Henderson has developed the export trade from zero to 20% of our business turnover in just five years, and has opened up our export trade to China, where there is significant demand for our premium reds. They just love our Shiraz!
Meet our new vineyard manager Robyn Robertston
Ballandean Estate continues to break new ground with the appointment of a female vineyard manager, Robyn Robertson, former vineyard managed at Sirromet Wines. She brings over 30 years of viticultural expertise to the estate, and has spent her entire life on the land at Ballandean.
I am thrilled to be at Ballandean Estate, the Puglisis have welcomed me into their family. When I heard that there was an opening, the opportunity to learn in the presence of Queensland’s father of wine Angelo Puglisi was just too good to pass up.
Robyn Robertston
Granite Belt wine pioneers
Twisted Gum Wines owner Michelle Coelli has been an outstanding support to the local industry. She’s great to talk to, and runs monthly farm walks at different vineyards. Sue Smith from Pyramid Wines is another Granite Belt woman in the industry I admire.
Robyn Robertston
Why Robyn made the move from Sirromet to Ballandean Estate
Sirromet’s founder Tony Morris was really supportive of the move across to Ballandean and the chance for me to pursue my viticultural passion. One of the Sirromet properties I managed was my family property. I’ve worked on that property for over 20 years, and it was once our family orchard.
Nurturing Ballandean Estate’s Strange Birds™ was another drawcard, as the grapes at Sirromet are mainly traditional varieties. Fiano, Saperavi, Malbec, Durif, Tempranillo, Viognier … so many new challenges! I am most excited about the Durif 2020 vintage—it is such a temperamental Strange Bird™ , as it produces a heavy crop. If we don’t prune enough now, it will over-fruit. Given the drought conditions, it is critical that we prune hard to ensure a low yield of high quality.
Every day is different at Ballandean Estate—I could be pruning, tasting fruit, showing a tour group through our vines, maintaining irrigation lines or running harvest teams. I spend a lot of time with Angelo on the vineyards. Such a privilege to work with a master viticulturist. It is in his blood and mine.
Robyn Robertston
Robyn came on board mid-vintage and experienced a baptism of fire in an incredibly challenging season, with the Girraween bushfires blazing. Her influential position is made even more remarkable when despite gender-equal enrolments in wine and viticulture courses, women make up less than 10 per cent of the wine industry workforce, according to a large-scale Australian study by the Curtin Graduate School of Business, Women in top roles in the wine industry: Forging ahead or falling behind? Representation of women in leadership and senior roles is even smaller.
ENDS
For all media enquiries please contact:
Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi or Robyn Puglisi-Henderson
Ph: (07) 4684 1226
Love is in the air at Ballandean Estate. Meet French lovebirds Afef and Thomas!
Ballandean Estate’s harvest season has been sweetened by the addition of honeymooning French couple Afef Idoudi (24) and Thomas Relizani (28), who have spent the last few weeks hand-picking much of Ballandean Estate’s fruit for the season.
Vineyard valentines
Our vineyard valentines hail from Nice in the south of France, and have been honeymooning in Australia since their late November wedding.
“Travelling the east coast of Australia is our lifelong dream, and we are lucky enough to be doing this for the next two years. Thomas and I are both nature-lovers. This is our first job in Australia, and we feel so blessed to be helping the Puglisi family bring their fruit in with tender loving care.
The Granite Belt is such an incredible food bowl—grapes, strawberries, tomatoes, lettuces, and all of the beautiful fruit orchards. Such abundance! We hope to spend several months here working on the land,”
says Afef Idoudi.
People, place and passion
Estate manager Robyn Puglisi-Henderson says.
“We just love giving these young people the opportunity to experience harvest, to share our people, place and passion. This year we’ve had 15 backpackers help us alongside our local crew. We get a range of nationalities, predominantly French, Italian and German this season.
“Our local harvesting office makes it so easy to engage with these adventurers. They come from such diverse backgrounds. Thomas is a tailor at home in France, he has offered to make Dad (Angelo Puglisi) a bespoke suit while he is here!
“You often expect them to be students travelling before they head to university, but sometimes they are older and just taking a break from their career. This is a great opportunity to travel and make money while seeing the best parts of our country.”
Girraween bushfires and a blessing
“This harvest has been challenging. The raging bushfires at Girraween National Park have struck terror into every vineyard family. We’ve spent the last three weeks picking most of our crop by hand to minimise risk to the fruit.
However we are pleased to report that our chief winemaker Dylan Rhymer says we are free of smoke taint at this stage with all of the fruit he has tested and tasted. Look at our glorious Shiraz in the crushing machine!”,
says Robyn.
Ballandean Estate’s world-class Sylvaner is set to make a splash on the international stage yet again as this dry summer is delivering optimal growing conditions for a temperamental Strange Bird variety. This decadent dessert wine has had international wine judges raving since 1985, with 15 trophies, 7 gold, 22 silver and 54 bronze awards.
An immaculate pedigree
- The 1991 Ballandean Estate Sylvaner received global acclaim from Alsace wines world expert Tom Stevenson, who declared it “the greatest Sylvaner he had ever tasted”. This accolade was published in his international book The Wines of Alsace. Stevenson profiled over 300 producers and analysed 118 wine villages, 50 grands crus, 84 lieux-dits, 28 clos and 4 wine producing chateaux.
- Rated 93 points by James Halliday (2002 and 2006 vintage), he describes it as “glowing gold; the Granite Belt’s most famous wine, made on and off over the past 25 years when vintage conditions permit; a gentle mix of barley sugar, lime and vanilla, it has excellent balance, and its history shows it cellars surprisingly well.”
- Oz Clarkes Grapes and Wine: the definitive guide to the world’s greatest grapes decreed Ballandean Estate (Australia) as a world-best producer, ranked alongside France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Deliver thee the nectar of the Gods!
The last Sylvaner vintage release was in 2014 and sold out quickly. Sadly, the only remaining bottles of Sylvaner in existence are carefully cellared in private homes and within Ballandean Estate’s museum collection. The good news? Ballandean Estate has decreed 2019 the best growing season in a decade.
A Strange Bird that needs the stars to align and the sun to shine
“Ballandean Estate winemaker Dylan Rhymer says, “Sylvaner is a sensitive Strange Bird! We only make a Sylvaner in perfect years. It is easily damaged and very susceptible to rain.
“Harvest is an incredibly delicate process, as we use the cordon cut method. Two weeks prior to picking, we cut half of the fruit-bearing canes. This allows the fruit to dry and concentrate in flavour. The other half that are still attached to the vine continue to grow as normal. These are picked very late in the season, as our aim is to get very high sugars.
“The vineyard method makes the Sylvaner exceptionally hard to produce. Rain in particular can affect the grapes at those final stages prior to picking.
“Inside the winery, the commitment to craft the best dessert wine continues. The Sylvaner juice is chilled to minus two degrees. This, creates water icicles which are removed to leave even more highly concentred flavour and sugar delivering a 40% loss of volume.
“The result of this process is highly acidic fruit. This gives the Sylvaner a crisp finish rather than a sticky sugary finish. When these two parcels are combined, we get a blend of fresh, crisp and intense fruit which develops the kerosene-based aromatics — reminiscent of the great Rieslings. The resulting wine is consistently great, a match made in heaven with cheese, fruit and creamy desserts.”
James Halliday’s 2008 Wine Companion states that “.. the (Ballandean) estate specialty, Sylvaner Late Harvest, is a particularly interesting wine of great character and flavour if given 10 years bottle age”.
“Our Sylvaner vintages wines are on the whole made to be drunk young, with crisp acid and slight spritz. But will still age gracefully with magnificent flavour,”
says Rhymer.
How Sylvaner came to be planted at Ballandean Estate
One of Australia’s leading wine scientists, Dr Bryce Rankin, in a 1973 discussion with Ballandean Estate owner Angelo Puglisi, suggested that Sylvaner and Chenin Blanc would grow well on the Granite Belt. Dr Rankin was principal research scientist at the Australian Wine Research Institute, which he helped establish, for over 20 years, and author of hundreds of scientific papers.
That year estate owner Angelo Puglisi planted approximately 1.5 acres of Sylvaner on two blocks at Ballandean Estate. The first vintages from 1973 to to 1985 were made as a dry table wine style. In 1985 Angelo employed winemaker Rodney Hooper, whom with some other young winemakers, had become interested in the production of dessert wines. Controlled environment botrytis was experimented with but was not successful. So the cane cutting method was employed and had good results. The 1985 Sylvaner was born.
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.
