Granite Belt Wine Region

• Summary
• Weather for Granite Belt Wine Region

The Granite Belt is Queensland's best known wine region. The region is centred around the town of Stanthorpe on the New South Wales Queensland border. Stanthorpe and surrounding villages are blessed with restaurants and lodgings for travellers who come to the annual Apple and Grape Harvest Festival in March, the Spring Wine Festival and Australian Small Winemakers Show in October.

Stanthorpe is situated on the Great Dividing Range 750m above sea level and 95 km inland from the coast. The winters are cold and frosty. Most of the region's rainfall comes in spring feeding the growing buds and shoots. The soil is largely composed of granite, somewhat on the acid side and is very free draining.

The country was once woodland with large granite boulders. It was cleared in the 1800s to make way for orchards and table grapes. The wine industry was pioneered by Italians and their descendants beginning around the 1920s. They produced wine for their own enjoyment and for sale to the Italian cane-growing communities to the north. The modern era began in the 1960s when Shiraz was planted. This led to the growth of boutique wineries that today produce a broad range of wine styles.