Queensland
Queensland was a significant wine producer in the latter part of the nineteenth century. In 1890 it made 750,000 litres of wine, more than double the quantity produced in Western Australia, and more than a quarter of that of South Australia. A great deal of this wine came from Bassett's Winery at Roma, which was established in 1863 by Samuel Bassett, who had worked for his uncle in the Hunter Valley for the previous seven years and had learned the essentials of viticulture and winemaking.
By the 1890's Bassett's had 180 hectares of vineyard, and profited greatly from the disruption that phylloxera had caused in Victoria. In 1901 Bassett's won ten of the 11 medals awarded at the Royal Brisbane Show, and the winery produced every conceivable wine style. But the severely hot climate had always meant that the best wines of "Romavilla" - present-day name of Bassett's winery, have been its fortified wines. To this day it makes Australia's best Madeira.
In 1997, 720 tonnes were crushed in Queensland, only half of Tasmania's 1,495 tonnes, however this was a 20 percent increase on 1996.
But the main centre of activity continues to be the Granite Belt in the southern Queensland highlands around Stanthorpe, only a few kilometres north of the New South Wales border. Father David, an Italian-born Roman Catholic priest, planted the first vines here in 1878. The remains of Father David's winery and cellars can still be seen today.
QLD 2000 - 2001 wine production totalled 401,000 litres.
Zones |
Region |
Sub-regions |
| Granite Belt | ||
| South Burnett |