Keeping Roger’s Dream Alive

People thought winemaker Roger Hart was crazy when he planted grape vines on his newly-acquired Mt Tamborine property in 1990. But this Victorian-bred winemaker had a hunch the volcanic soil might produce good wine.
While his grape experiment had mixed results, he did successfully launch a new and popular tourism industry on the mountain, wine tourism.

The cellar door business was so busy that in 2003 Roger, his wife Ann and daughter Danielle bought a bigger site along Gallery Walk and set about moving their venture there.
However Roger passed away before the doors of the Mt Tamborine Vineyard and Winery could open, leaving Ann and Danielle with a tough decision.
“We had just bought our Gallery Walk property when dad passed away,” says Danielle.
“I just stepped into the role and never looked back. This location was always part of Dad’s plan and we have worked our backsides off and made it successful.”
Danielle and Ann now oversee a seven-day-a-week operation which includes a cellar door and a very busy restaurant.
The grapes are now all grown at Ballandean on a 100 acre property owned by the winery, in consultation with Danielle and winemaker Jim Barnes.
“We grow Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay,” says Danielle.
“I just make what we grow, and blends of that.
“Our vision for our business was to combine really good local produce with great Queensland wines.
“Our head chef Stephen Baker is a master of food and wine matching, we have a specials menu each week which matches dishes with our wines.”
Two of the winery’s most recognised drops are the Black Shiraz which pairs beautifully with steak, and the Tehembrin Merlot. The Chocolate Port and Bush Turkey Vintage Port are also popular with visitors.
Visitors can indulge in breakfast, morning tea or lunch. The Winery has won many awards for its red and white wines, as well as medals for its gourmet pies.
Danielle says she is proud that all of their food is produced on premises and their wines are all estate grown produced and bottled.
Mt Tamborine Vineyard and Winery is open daily from 9am to 4pm.
Go to the website for more information.

Tags: Mt Tamborine Winery & Homestead

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 11:36 am and is filed under Local Characters, On the Grapevine, People, Places . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.