North Tamborine

If you ever find yourself heading for the Gold Coast, immediately contact Helen at Ambience on Tour and book yourself a day trip. She has various types on offer - art, breweries and cheese, distilleries. We chose wine, with bonus wildlife stop.

She picked us up from the hotel door at just after 9 and drove us up to Tambourine mountain, with a bit of a guided tour on the way. The first stop was Witches Falls winery. Like most of the wineries in the area they grow almost all their grapes some way away, in the Granite belt, but unlike the others they ship the whole grapes up the mountain and do the whole process on site.

Grapes are first shaken loose from their stems. This releases a bit of juice, so reds and rosés sit for between 4 hours and 2 weeks to macerate in tall, unsealed steel vessels before pressing between 2 large air cushions and then filtering out the skins and pips. For fermentation some are inoculated with 2 strains of yeast (1 French, 1 South African) while others use wild yeasts.

We tasted:

2018 Granite Belt Verdhelo
(coinoculated and 6 months in a stainless steel vat). Light straw colour, soft yeast on nose with pale tropical fruits. Taste stronger than expected from nose - fruity but with mineral undertone, quite acid but not puckering.

2018 Granite Belt Sauvignon Blanc (coinoculated and 6 months in a stainless steel vat). V light colour- barely tinted and just a hint of elderflower nose, elderflower and lemon, hint of greenish tart apple

2017 Granite Belt Wild Ferment Sauvignon Blanc (oaked for a few months).
Much more straw in the colour, nose a little rubbery, buttery eggy toast. Taste rounder than the coinoculated, more tropical fruit. Lychee?

2016 Granite Belt Wild ferment Verdhelo (oaked 2016l
Nose butter and gooseberries, then an oak burst adds warmth and a bit of woody tannin under the fruit.

2018 Saignée rose - syrah and black muscat, left on skin for 4 hpurs. powerfully fragrant - roses and strawberry with a hint of spice. Syrupy soft flavour, a bit more currant than the nose - just a hint. Primarily strawberry, wirh a lovely creamy texture that's just a little dry at the end.

2017 Tempranillo wild ferment
Slightly purplish red, nose of summer pudding with plenty of blackcurrant, flavour very close match to nose - slightly sharp

2017 Garnasha wild ferment
Pinky red, warm soft nose, sunned wood, hint of powdery violet. Initially smoother flavour but more tannins as it goes on.

2016 wild ferment monastrell (mourvedre grape in Grance, monastrell in spain)
Leather polish and herbs, sweeter on the taste than the nose and less tannin than expected, but flavour grows in size - bit of lamp oil, lots of fruit, sour cherries, dark chocolate, big legs.

2015 Prophesy Merlot (Prophesy is the premium range) French oak barrel for 2 years, dark but not purpley, nose of French oak vanilla, BIG flavour, oaky, dark, cherries and chocolate. Tannins definite but relatively brief leaving a fruit finish.

Moscato rose 8.2% rose and candied pineapple nose, taste pf rose and muscat grapes. Lovey drinkble light sweet wine - would go with a light pudding (morrocan orange cake) but good alone.

Classic Tawny - syrah fortified with brandy. Port style. Add a layer each year. 20 y o. Lovely raisiny port style - sweeter and a little lighter than a typical port. Goes beautifully with the local mild bries that we tried: 1 truffled and 1 ashed.Read more