Celebrate with Your Partner: Destination Granite Belt
Wine not celebrate a special anniversary or memorable birthday with your partner in Granite Belt Wine Country.
Here’s some tips to help you plan your celebration in Stanthorpe & Ballandean
Historic Setting, Music & a Degustation Dinner
The old world charm of Beverley Homestead is a memorable setting for a celebration dinner, onside at Whiskey Gully Wines near Stanthorpe. A six course degustation menu is available here on Saturday evenings. Live music following the meal completes the atmosphere of a very special evening. Complimenting the impressive menu is a wine tasting option, which includes six half-glasses matched to each course by the chef.
It’s important to know that bookings are essential and it’s best to book well in advance.
Location: 25 Turner Road, Severnlea
Bookings: 07 4683 5100
Celebrate with the Best of Both: Wine & Beer Tour
Pictured: Granite Belt Brewery
Have the best of both worlds, beer and wine, on a Granite Belt day tour that caters for both preferences! On a Filippo’s Tours Wine & Beer Tour you’re picked you up at your Stanthorpe accommodation and whisked away for a day of tastings at up to three wineries, plus Brass Monkey Brewhouse. A delicious two-course lunch and tastings at Granite Belt Brewery are also on the menu.
View all four of the tour operators that offer various options of wine and brewery tours around the Granite Belt.
Celebrate with Chocolate!
Is a whole cottage full of chocolates enough for your partner? Chocolates and marking a celebration just go together and the place where the two meet are at the cutest Heavenly Chocolates cottage south of Ballandean near the entrance to Girraween National Park. Select a few chocolates from their extensive range made onsite and enjoy it with a sinfully delicious European hot chocolate outside in the beautiful cottage garden.
Open: 10am-4pm Friday to Monday (plus Qld school holidays and public holidays)
Location: 2117 Pyramids Road, Wyberba
Celebrate With 150yr Old Giants
If you’re celebrating a birthday, your guest of honour will feel young dining in the shadows of the 150 year-old barrels in Ballandean Estate‘s iconic Barrelroom Restaurant. No-one celebrates better than an Italian family and it’s here the Puglisi family who have operated the winery for generations, partner with Chef husband and wife team Matt & Bobbi to deliver a modern Italian indulgence fitting to mark a special celebration.
Location: 354 Sundown Road, Ballandean
Dining: Lunches Thursday to Monday, Dinner: Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Celebrate with a Picnic in the Vineyard
image credit @ashleyseychelle
Organising a special picnic in the vineyard could sound like a bit of work – but don’t worry, you can book ahead and have everything done for you. There are lots of ways to have an easy picnic in the vineyard on the Granite Belt …Read our Guide to Easy Picnics on the Granite Belt
Celebration ‘Cake’… Couple Size!
Who needs a big birthday or celebration cake when it’s just the two of you celebrating. Instead grab something special from the maestros of pastry-making at Zest Pastries in the main street of Stanthorpe. They make what is described often as ‘the best pastry in the Granite Belt’ and leave behind them reviews like this one on Trip Advisor “pastry is as good as anything you will find in France.”
If you’re celebrating a birthday bring a candle along ready to stick in to create a couple-sized birthday sweet treat and a sweet moment together. Pick up your pastries enroute to a special quiet spot to share together – we suggest a picnic table beside Quart Pot Creek at the Big Thermometer or picnic table with views at Mt Marlay Lookout.
Location: Zest Pastries, 54 Maryland Street, Stanthorpe (main street)
Special Orders: (07) 4681 4320
Open: from 7am – 4.30pm Tuesday to Friday, 7am – 2pm Saturday
Celebrate with Bubbles!
Grab some Granite Belt sparking wine for your celebration getaway… Our tip is that Summit Estate Wines has a huge and really exciting range of sparkling wines and what’s so handy is that if you’re arriving from the north – they are one of the first wineries you’re pass as you arrive in the area! Drop in for a tasting and select your favourite (ask them about their alternative variety Strange Bird sparkling wines for something exciting and new).
Location: 291 Granite Belt Drive, Thulimbah (turn off the highway at the ‘Big Apple’)
Open: Friday and Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday and Monday 10am-2pm
Why are they the latest winery to close… at 6pm? HOT TIP: Friday and Saturday evening there are sunset sessions here!
Celebrate over an Un-missable Lunch Experience
Pictured: Medley of Mains with matching wines at Varias Restaurant
The signature dish, ‘Medley of Mains’ is really a special experience, offered at award winning Varias Restaurant at the Queensland College of Wine Tourism! The medley is only available on the lunch menu and varies through the year (matching with what local produce is in season) but you can guarantee it’s always on the menu.
Expect three main dishes served on a plate, followed by a desert and each has been perfectly matched to a Banca Ridge wine grown and produced onsite. View the lunch menu.
Location: 22 Caves Road, Stanthorpe
Open for lunch dining: Tuesday to Saturday 11am – 3pm (last orders 2pm)
Celebrate at Stanthorpe’s Most Intimate Dining
Great things come in small packages… and that’s truly the case with one of Stanthorpe’s newest dining spots. Essen Restaurant offers a very intimate atmosphere, beautiful for couples marking a special event. The table service is personal and unhurried, the menu is Austrian style, fresh and authentic and the atmosphere in the evening sparkles with fairy lights amongst the hanging grape vines, greeting you to for a special evening ahead.
Location: 2 McGregor Terrace, Stanthorpe
Open for dinner: Wednesday to Saturday
