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Merry Christmas To
All Our Readers!
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 22nd December
2003: With Christmas just three sleeps away I'm writing my last column
for 2003 today. This seems a good time to look back (briefly) over what's
been a truly phenomenal year for our region's wine and food
industries. As far as food goes, the South Burnett really began to get some
attention during the last 12 months. Our locally-made cheeses took out golds
at a string of shows; pork boomed; organic and semi-organic growers made
a mark on local and capital city markets; and our best restaurants began
drawing praise for a job well done. And as far as wine goes, this year saw
the South Burnett become the biggest grape crush area in the State;
saw our winemakers battle well above their weight to walk away with stacks
of medals at major shows; and saw - or will see, once they can secure the
builders - our cellar door numbers expand by 25%. We also brought
the South Burnett to the notice of the nation when we competed in the
Australian Culinary Cook-Offs in Adelaide and beat the Hunter Valley
team (previous gold medalists) by a healthy margin. In addition - thanks
to my friends at the South Burnett Adviser and Crow-FM -
developments in regional wines and foods began to get regular local press
and radio coverage too. Best idea of the year that never went
anywhere? (but should): the South Burnett Wine Appreciation Society,
which sadly came to nothing when there was a change of management at the
Bell Tower. Best effort? The South Burnett Wine Industry
Association, who've been developing a new logo for the region (I've seen
it) . This should begin to appear next year and it will make us all very
proud when it does. I'll be back in mid-January to do it all over again for
2004. In the meantime, thankyou for sharing my interest in South Burnett
wines and foods - and have a great Christmas!
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South Burnett Farewells
A Culinary Icon
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 19th December
2003: Last Thursday night - along with many other people - I went to
Nanango's Copper Country Restaurant to farewell former owner and local culinary
legend Steve Winter. Steve recently sold his restaurant, motel and
vineyard to former international hotelier Frans Staats and will be
moving to Brisbane for awhile to renovate houses and take a well-deserved
break from the kitchen. Steve's contribution to the South Burnett's wine
and food industries is unparalleled and not widely recognised - but if you've
ever been to a Wine & Food In The Park Festival; a Wine Industry
Vintage Dinner; the Warbirds, Wheels & Wine Air Show or enjoyed
a slice of Kingaroy Cheese, it's worth reflecting that Steve either
started these events and/or played a fundamental role in their foundation.
Steve's Copper Country Restaurant was recently recognised as one of the three
best restaurants in the region by the Good Life Restaurant Guide (see
story 10th December 2003) and he's been an indefatigable supporter of
local charities and community activities throughout his long stewardship
of the Copper Country complex. Happily, new owner Frans says that he wants
to retain all the best features of Copper Country but has plans to build
on Steve's legacy over the next few years. Frans told me that he and his
wife looked at more than 25 motels before falling in love with Copper Country
("at first sight!" he said) and he shares Steve's strong belief that our
region is an emerging wine and food destination with a big future ahead of
it. Photo: Steve Winter (left) and Frans Staats (right) at last
week's farewell.
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Wanted: Two Apprentice
Chefs To Take On Australia's Best!
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 16th December 2003: Move over
Australian Idol - a new search is on for a team of chefs to compete at the
2005 LifeStyle Channel Australian Regional Culinary Competition. One of the
objectives for the 2005 team is to have two apprentice chefs as part
of our culinary quartet. With a little under two years of planning ahead,
it's quite plausible that young people who have absolutely no experience
in commercial cookery could be trained and ready to match-up against Australia's
finest chefs in the nation's most prestigious culinary competition. The only
criteria required are a passion for food and the dedication to work and train
as a qualified chef in the South Burnett region. The decision to take two
apprentices came from the outstanding effort made by the 2003 team's only
apprentice - 19-year-old Adrian Hauritz - who was a strong contender
for the accolade of "Best Apprentice" at this year's competition. I think
the South Burnett is a treasure trove of great culinary talent that simply
needs to be discovered. So I'm calling on any locals who think they'd be
interested in an exciting career in cookery to get in contact with me
via email or by phoning
me on (07) 4160 4428. Who knows? You may be the next Jamie Oliver.
Photo: WIN TV News reporting on the Team South Burnett's search
for budding young chefs.
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New Sunday Grape
To Glass Tours At Barambah Ridge
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 13th December 2003: If you'd like to improve your knowledge
of wine and have a great Sunday out,
Barambah Ridge's
newly-introduced Grape To Glass tours - which are now running every
Sunday at their Redgate winery - may be just the ticket. The tour begins
at 10:00am on Sunday morning with a stroll through the Ridge's vineyards
where you can learn about the "vintage cycle" and identify the qualities
of the various grape varieties. This is followed by an inspection tour of
the winery to see how wine is actually made, and then a wine tasting and
wine appreciation session where you'll learn about the 20-point wine judging
process; be able to bone up on wine appreciation techniques from experienced
wine industry staff; and then be given the opportunity to taste and judge
Barambah Ridge's own multi-award winning wines. After this, the tour concludes
with a great lunch at Barambah Ridge's cellar door; a complimentary glass
of their wine (if you can fit in any more!) and live entertainment by the
Ridge's resident saxophonist Tom McKenzie. The Grape To Glass tour is modelled
on a similar one run by the famous Poet's Corner winery in Mudgee that I
went on myself last year, and at $35 per head it's not only genuinely
educational - it's also great value. For catering purposes, Barambah Ridge
would prefer it if you booked your place by 5:00pm on Saturdays. You
can do it by phoning them on (07) 4168-4766.
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South Burnett Restaurants
Featured In 2004 Good Life Restaurant Guide
-
 10th December
2003: I can't contain my excitement! Just when I thought the South Burnett's
food and wine scene had clocked up every milestone they possibly could this
year, another one's just landed on my desk. The Courier-Mail's Good Life
Restaurant Guide 2004 was released today and this year - for the first
time ever in a guide of this calibre - it contains a South Burnett section.
Three local restaurants are listed and reviewed: Kingaroy's Burning Beats
Café, Booie Range Distillery's Bell Tower Restaurant and
Nanango's Copper Country Restaurant. To top off this achievement,
the Bell Tower Restaurant has been awarded a red star for its excellence
in the Queensland food service industry: one of only 21 regional restaurants
in the State to get this mark of distinction. As you might expect, most of
the top-flight restaurants that are reviewed in the 2004 edition are in Brisbane,
Noosa, Port Douglas, Cairns and the Gold Coast. So getting three of our own
eateries into such elite company is no mean feat! Each restaurant should
be justifiably proud of their accomplishment. The Courier-Mail Good Life
Restaurant Guide 2004 is on sale from today for $12.95 in selected newsagencies
and through Mary Ryan's and Borders book stores. You can also order copies
at Queensland Newspapers' office at 41 Campbell Street in Bowen Hills, or
by filling in and mailing their
downloadable order form
(Adobe PDF format) with your cheque.
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Thai Cookery Class
A Big Hit - Another Coming Soon!
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 7th December 2003:
Last Tuesday night Kingaroy TAFE held an introductory Thai cookery class.
Paul Stoddart, the chef and owner of Kingaroy's Burning Beats
Café, was on hand as guest chef and he assisted me in demonstrating
the basic fundamentals of Thai cuisine. I think that a course like this is
a first for our region and I was honestly amazed at the response we received
from our ad in last Friday's South Burnett Times.The phones at TAFE rang
off the hook and we had over two dozen locals sign up to join the short course
in less than 48 hours. Originally the Thai cooking course was going to be
a one-night-only affair held before the Christmas holidays. But interest
has been so strong that Paul and I are going to run another Thai cookery
course on Tuesday 16th December for those who were disappointed to
miss out. The folks from the first course left the college grinning from
ear-to-ear thanks to Paul's recipes and stories about his recent trip to
Thailand. Some of the recipes that were demonstrated to attendees included
Tom Yam Goong (Sour and Hot King Prawn Soup), Yam Neua (Rare
Beef and Noodle Salad), Gaeng Phed Wan Gai (Red chicken Curry) and
Khao Neuw Dam Piak (Black Sticky Rice). How much our tastes have changed!
If anybody would like to suggest any other cuisine that interests them and
could make a great short course just
email me or call on
(07) 4160-4428. Otherwise - book early!
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South Burnett Takes
50% Of Gold Medals At Queensland Wine Awards
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 4th December 2003:
The South Burnett wine industry should be feeling pretty proud of itself
this week. After turning in an outstanding performance at the Australian
Small Winemakers Show in early November (see story 7th November),
they capped it off with an even better performance at the Courier
Mail Sheraton Queensland Wine Awards. Although the region only accounted
for 15.9% of the total entries, when the 2003 winners were announced
last Monday night we walked away with 20.5% of the medals. This
includes 23.2% of all bronze medals and a whopping 50% of the
golds.
Barambah Ridge won two
gold medals for their 2003 Verdelho (which took out double golds) and
Crane Winery received
yet another gold medal and trophy for their Late Harvest Frontignac (I've
lost track of how many medals and trophies this particular wine has won this
year). Other top local performers included
Bridgeman Downs (1 bronze);
Clovely Estates (7 bronzes);
Crane Winery (1 bronze)
and
Dusty Hill (1 bronze).
The 2003 results are also up on 2002 where our winemakers accounted 14.7%
of the entries and took 14.9% of the medals. You can obtain a complete list
of the 2003 Queensland Wine Awards results - along with the points awarded
to each entry -
by clicking here (47K
PDF - data courtesy of the Courier Mail)
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Stuart Range Unveil
New Brand, New Image
-
 1st
December 2003: Stuart Range - until now, you'd know them better as Stuart
Range Estates - took the wrappings off their new brand today after 6 months
of closed-door discussions with designers and shareholders. As part of the
brand change the company will be dropping the word "Estates" from its title
(it doesn't actually own any vineyards) and will be gradually eliminating
the thin gold "SR" logo that most people are familiar with in exchange for
the new logo shown above. The new logo has been designed to simultaneously
represent the red soils of Kingaroy - where nearly all the company's grapes
are sourced - and the individual thumbprint of a winemaker. Stuart Range
expect the complete changeover is likely to take as long as 6 months. It
will involve everything from stationery and road signage, posters and promotional
material through to boxes, labels, the firm's domain name and web site. To
celebrate the logo launch Stuart Range also released several of their new
season wines today in bold new "Top Drop" labels which are quite
a change from the company's traditional packaging. The new wines show the
hand of master winemaker Ross Whiteford at work too. They're quite
different to anything the company's produced before and I'll have more to
say about them in future stories. In the meantime - if you're looking for
some Christmas wine specials - take a look at
Stuart Range's existing web
site tomorrow afternoon. This Christmas they're launching 3 hamper
packs (at $99, $140 and $160) that are very good value indeed. You can get
more details there.
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