“2012 here on Girraween Estate”
“Change of career from Chemical Engineering after completing a Masters degree in Wine Technology and Viticulture through the University of Melbourne via Dookie Ag College in Shepparton.
Oh, and a love of wine!”
“3 tonnes hand picked grapes bucketed into a crusher and pressed through a basket press. All very labour intensive, but truly authentic winemaking!”
“Previous 25 year career as a Chemical Engineer in big and small companies in chemical production and new projects as an engineer and project manager”
“Depends on the season, but usually starts at sunrise and ends at sunset.
In summer and autumn, it is crazy with crushing fruit, processing grapes and wine and bottling finished product.
In Winter it is up early to get the vineyard pruning and in Spring it is looking after the early growth of the vines, training the vines in the vineyard, spraying to keep the vines healthy and slashing to keep the property looking neat.”
“Well known by Granite Belt aficionados for Cabernet Sauvignon, for Shiraz and Sparkling wines”
“Shiraz Cabernet – a great Aussie blend and a wine that we do exceptionally well, with many medals and a trophy as best Queensland red wine at the National Australian Small Winemakers Show.
From our vineyard, the Shiraz is beautiful red berry fruit and Cabernet has great tannins, giving the wine structure and complexity. Our 2019 Shiraz Cabernet is the best wine I have produced.”
“Couldn’t live without my tractor, wireless head phones or the Bose wireless speaker in the Winery.”
“That we are truly authentic – every wine is hand crafted and Lisa and I do all the vineyard work, winemaking and bottling. The results from our wines in National shows has been astonishing for the quality and consistency of the results.”
“My two hobbies are golf – I play at Tenterfield golf course whenever I can and Astrophotography, I have a sliding roof observatory on site for clear nights.”
Girraween Estate is open 10am to 5pm weekends and public holidays and on every visit you can be sure you’ll meet Steve and/or his partner Lisa who is equally hands-on in the business.