New wineries, Polish dumplings and being (almost) chauffeur-driven were only some of the spoils for the November 23 to 24 "Grazing the Granite Belt" among 150 happy takers.
The aim of the bi-annual tourism event, organised by Granite Belt Wine Country, is to attract visitors to the region during "shoulder season," which is considered a quieter time of the year. These May and November predictors gives local business boosted trade, organisers like Chris Nolan promote.
Ticket holders for the Spring Grazing the Granite Belt met at the Visitor Information Centre in Stanthorpe to then be bused to organised places of interest including Jamworks Gourmet Foods at Glen Aplin, Dear Vincent wines, Ballandean Estate, and more. Buses involved continually loop around to each venue throughout the day, giving grazers "the option of hopping off or staying on until they reach the venue they want to visit," an event guest with her husband, but Stanthorpe local, Dee Davenport told us.
"Geoff and I are of course local to Stanthorpe and we wanted to show our Brisbane friends the amazing wineries of the Granite Belt and asked her to come and stay with us for a long weekend," Dee told us. "We also wanted to experience the new wineries to the region."
"Grazers" came from near and far including Brisbane, Toowoomba, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, even Western Australia, Victoria and the Northern Rivers.
This event saw a number of new cellar doors added to the venue list including Mountview Wines, with catering from Cooked from Scratch Cooking School, Art of Krupinski offering Polish dumplings, and View Wines serving food and wine with views across Ballandean.
Dee tells us that she and Geoff enjoyed the day immensely and were "very relaxed and maybe a little 'tiddly' by the end of day".
Her highlight was meeting people from "so many people from different backgrounds" and of course the offerings on our doorstep.
"The bus rides between venues were full of conversation and laughter," Dee added. "We made some great connections... (and) every venue provided an excellent and individual experience.
Adam from Dear Vincent was a really excellent host warmly welcoming each grazer individually as they came off the bus. He told each group the story of how he started, how he got to where he is, and his amazing plans for expansion and was very generous with his tastings.
"I also really enjoyed our visit to Art of Krupinski where we enjoyed their wines with traditional Polish dumplings in line with the heritage of owners Artur and Natalia."
The next such event is in May 2025.
