Must-visit cellar doors in Queensland's Granite Belt

Queensland might not be the first place you think of when planning a winery weekend, but not only does it have a winegrowing history dating back over 150 years, it's home to a plethora of exceptional wineries and cellar doors.

Below are five producers from the state's best known and regarded wine region, the Granite Belt. The makers tell us about their bespoke wine tasting experiences, must-try wines and share their favourite haunts. Add these five wineries to your summer itinerary. 

Balancing Heart

Chief winemaker and viticulturist Mike Hayes says: Balancing Heart is one of the highest elevation wineries on the Granite Belt, sitting above 900 metres at Wyberba, on decomposed granite that began forming 250 million years ago. Mother Nature is the real winemaker here. We use the vineyard's own yeasts, add no acid or tannin, and craft vegan wines from shiraz and chardonnay to sagrantino and carménère. 

H. What do you love about making wine in the Granite Belt?
MH. I was born five kilometres from this vineyard, so this is home soil. Queensland winemakers aren't bound by tradition, so we plant what truly suits our climate. People picture beaches, then taste a cool-climate Granite Belt shiraz and the penny drops. Being named Halliday's 2027 Dark Horse Winery of the Year tells me the rest of Australia is finally noticing. 

H. What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
MH. Come curious and come hungry. Taste our wines for free, seven days a week, then walk the granite and vineyard on a self-guided tour, or join me for a weekend masterclass. Feed the Highland cows, find the heart-shaped boulder we're named for amidst our shiraz vines, and stay for live music and dinner as the sun sets over the vines and across the range.

Favourite local spot: Girraween National Park, right on our doorstep. Hike the Pyramid on a crisp spring morning and you'll understand our wines, because that same ancient granite runs beneath every vine. 

Wine to try: Balancing Heart Alchemy & Artisan Rock Shiraz 2023, Granite Belt 

It pours with a beautiful, vibrant purple colour. High-toned scents of violet florals, mulberry, black cherry, game meat, truffle and pepper. Ultra-silky texture, a supple flow of red berries, tart cherry, rosehip tea, sweet spice and light, earthy, umami savouriness. Tannins work a light, fine, silky grip. The wine finishes fresh, gently botanical and spicy, and lingers with that spice and herbal detail. Very beautiful, cool and fine-boned wine. – Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion, 95 points. 

Best enjoyed: Serve just below room temperature, around 15 to 16°C, in a large-bowled Burgundy glass. At 12.5% alc, and with such fine tannins, it needs no decanting – simply give it 10 minutes in the glass to open up. Pairs beautifully with slow-roasted lamb shoulder with rosemary and garlic, or a wild mushroom and truffle risotto that picks up the earthy, savoury side of the wine.

RRP $44 | Drink to 2038 | balancingheart.com.au | Shop this wine

Heritage Wines of Stanthorpe

Winemaker Gillian Heathcote and viticulturist Robert Fenwick say: Heritage Wines of Stanthorpe is a family-owned, high-altitude Granite Belt winery producing small-batch, hand-picked wines from vineyards across Cottonvale, Ballandean and Thulimbah. We are progressing towards organic certification and use regenerative farming practices, with cover crops, beneficial insects and minimal intervention to build healthier soils and more expressive wines.

H. What do you love about making wine in the Granite Belt?
GH & RF.  We love challenging perceptions of Queensland wine. At altitude in the Granite Belt, cool nights, granitic soils and four distinct seasons give us freshness and natural acidity. It is also an exciting place to work with varieties that suit our climate beautifully, such as fiano, tempranillo and sagrantino.

H. What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
GH & RF. Guests experience wine through food, place and storytelling. Our fine-dining chef brings the wines to life through a range of immersive experiences; from progressive dinners through the vineyard and winery to black-tie events and relaxed fireside tapas. Each creates a seamless connection between landscape, cuisine and glass.

Favourite local spot: Donnelly's Castle is a favourite. Its extraordinary above-ground granite caves, huge balancing boulders and hidden passages feel almost cinematic, with a sense of mystery reminiscent of Hanging Rock. It captures the rugged granite landscape that defines this region.

Wine to try: Heritage Wines of Stanthorpe Fiano 2026, Granite Belt

This is spot on. Pear juice, green apple freshness, frangipani florals, cucumber in tonic water, juniper berries and a touch of saline minerality. Thirst quenching as a style, juicy but tight through a long, pleasingly briny finish. Seaside white vibes from very inland places. Go figure. Crispness and vitality personified, and understated. A delight, and proper. – Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion, 95 points.

Best enjoyed: Serve lightly chilled at around 9–11°C, rather than ice-cold, and in a medium-sized, tulip-shaped white wine glass to allow the Fiano’s aromatics and texture to open. Enjoy alongside fresh Queensland seafood, particularly scallops, prawns or Moreton Bay bugs, or dishes with chilli, ginger, lime and fresh herbs.

RRP $37 | Drink to 2031 | heritageestate.wine | Shop this wine

Hidden Creek

Owner Andrew Corrigan MW says: Hidden Creek makes wines from its own vineyards, which are located at a particularly high altitude of just under 1000 metres. Compared to other high altitude regions in Australia, such as Victoria's King Valley (around 700–800 metres), this is notable and results in fresh, mineral whites and spicy, cool-climate reds. 

H. What do you love about making wine in the Granite Belt?
AC. Hidden Creek’s high altitude and granite soils result in a low-disease environment, which works wonderfully for unique but classic varieties including viognier, marsanne, syrah and tempranillo. 

H. What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
AC. In the cellar door, open on weekends and by appointment, we serve charcuterie platters along with a choice of curated wine tastings. Our cellar door manager is a qualified winemaker and visitors receive insights into our wines and the district in general. 

Favourite local spot: The Hidden Creek cottages! We have two available for guests to stay at – both are secluded in the natural bushland and have wonderfully peaceful views from their verandahs.

Wine to try: Hidden Creek Syrah Viognier 2024, Granite Belt

A svelte, perfumed red that marries the florals and spice of viognier with the brooding, dark berry fruit, savoury earthiness and black pepper of syrah – and very well. Mellow, shapely, controlled and finishing long on a trill of woody spices, this has good form and high drinkability. Very charming. Elegant would be a byword. – Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion, 95 points. 

Best enjoyed: Best served at European room temperature – about 18°C – which in Australia means 10-minutes or so in the fridge. Matches a wide array of Mediterranean meat and provincial dishes such as lamb casserole and lasagne.

RRP $45 | Drink to 2032 | hiddencreek.com.au | Shop this wine

Symphony Hill Wines

Cellar door manager James Macpherson says: We are a boutique, family-owned winery situated in picturesque Ballandean. Our first vintage was in 2001, and from those humble beginnings, we now have three wines served on Qantas business class flights, are the exclusive wine partner of Queensland Ballet, and produce world-class wines matured in Tuscan terra cotta amphora. 

H. What do you love about making wine in the Granite Belt?
JM. At over 1000m above sea level, our vineyard experiences a cold climate with mild summers, which enables our grapes to ripen slowly and accumulate complexity of flavours. Queenslanders are great supporters of quality in their own state, so we are always excited to introduce this to visitors at our cellar door. 

H. What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
JM. Relax and engage your senses with our diverse range of wines to sample and savour, including our top-tier Amphora wines. A member of our friendly and passionate team will love showing you around, or providing you with a sample of our annual ‘mystery wine’ should you wish to put your palate to the test. 

Favourite local spot: Josie’s restaurant and bar in Stanthorpe. They serve our Amphora Range of wines by the bottle, alongside their Italian-Australian cuisine that is bold, seasonal and made to share. 

Wine to try: Symphony Hill Wines Amphora Pinot Noir 2024, Granite Belt

Dark cherry, raspberry, hibiscus, vanilla, portobello mushrooms and ripe Von Trapp alpine strawberry aromas that yodel louder and more sweetly than a lonely goat herder. Exquisite mouth–filling savoury and spicy flavours tantalize the taste buds before the pirouette of elegant tannin, delicious fruit and rose petals combined with sweet cherry notes dance harmoniously across the palate. The wine was matured in our hand made terracotta Amphora imported from Tuscany without any oak contact. The wine is in constant contact with clay surface allowing the wine to breathe and mature while capturing the purity of the fruit and its aromas and flavours are wildly amplified. – Symphony Hill Wines 

Best enjoyed: Serve with pan-seared duck breast with a tart cherry and blackberry reduction, served over parsnip purée and roasted chanterelle mushrooms, in a pinot noir glass at 18°C.

RRP $250 | Drink to 2046 | symphonyhill.com.au | Shop this wine

Tobin Wines

Owner Greg Kentish says: Tobin Wines is home to some of the oldest vines on the Granite Belt, with shiraz and semillon first planted in the mid-1960s. For more than two decades, founder Adrian Tobin crafted tiny, handmade batches here, each wine named for one of his grandchildren. As custodians, our job is simple: honour that legacy and let the vineyard speak. 

H. What do you love about making wine in the Granite Belt?
GK. Queensland wine still surprises people, and I love watching it happen. Visitors arrive expecting sunshine and humidity, then find frosty mornings, granite boulders and shiraz with real finesse. I spent years building businesses in the city. Out here I work seven days a week and still feel energised. Honestly, the views do half the work.

H. What can guests expect from a visit to your cellar door?
GK. A genuine, unhurried tasting with people who love these wines. We pour our multiple Max Shiraz blocks side by side, so you can taste how a few rows of granite change everything. Book a chocolate and wine pairing experience and settle in among the old vines ready to take home something truly special.

Favourite local spot: I love indulging in a hot chocolate at Heavenly Chocolate after a hike in the Girraween National Park.

Wine to try: Tobin Wines Max Shiraz Block Two 2024, Granite Belt

This is swishy and super easy to get into. Dark cherry, aniseed, toasted cinnamon and clove, some sesame notes, black pepper, chocolate, panforte and mint. It's seamless and flows well, with a building pucker of slate-like tannin. Meaty and juicy through that spicy finish, too. An excellent rendering of the variety here. – Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion, 95 points. 

Best enjoyed: Serve at 16–18°C in a generous shiraz or Bordeaux glass alongside chargrilled lamb backstrap with a cracked pepper crust, or five-spice roast duck, which draws out the aniseed and sweet spice in the wine. While it is young, decant for around 30 minutes to open up the dark fruit and spice. 

RRP $45 | Drink to 2033 | tobinwines.com | Shop this wine

Top image credit: Balancing Heart