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New Publicity Opportunity
For Regional Food Producers
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 29th September 2003: Regional food producers - and that includes
our wineries and restaurants - may be interested to learn about a new web
site that's just been launched to promote Australian produce and dining.
It's the
Australian Online Farmers
Market and I understand that it's been set up as a private venture
with assistance from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, who
are always keen to promote the State's primary industries. The site hopes
to make its future running costs from the sale of advertising but if you're
a food producer or restaurateur it's quite free to join and get your business
listed in the Farmers Market's database right now. The Internet
is becoming an increasingly effective marketing medium every year but it's
also becoming a lot more crowded, and doing so at a frightening rate. Back
in January 2000, for instance - and that's only three years ago - there were
around 17 million web sites on the Internet. Now there's 44
million. So the task of actually getting your business found on
the Net is really getting harder by the day. That's why it makes sense
to have a listing not only in the general web site search engines like Google,
Yahoo and others (if you have a web site) but also to get your business
listed in specialty sites like this as well (and this works even if you don't
have a web site, since the Australian Online Farmers Market lists all your
offline contact details as well as the online ones). No-one's going to do
this for you, though, so I can only suggest you get cracking and do it yourself.
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Team South Burnett
Begin Countdown To Regional Culinary Cooking Competition
-
 26th September 2003: Long-time readers of South Burnett Cuisine
are already well aware, I suppose, that in about 10 days from now I'll be
leading a team of South Burnett chefs in Adelaide when we represent our region
at the
LifeStyle Channel Regional Culinary
Competition. The competition will be held from October 6th to 10th
and all four of us (Clinton Smoothy, Adrian Hauritz, myself and Steve
Gudzinski - the four men in the photo at right) will be representing
the South Burnett's foods, wines and culinary skills against much better-known
regions like the Hunter Valley, The Barossa and Margaret River. We've received
fantastic support to do this from an enormous range of sponsors at all levels
of our region and outside it. Support from people who share our belief that
the South Burnett is the Next Big Thing in Australian food and wine.
And after working towards this goal for most of the year I can assure you
that the pressure is certainly starting to build up on all of us! The good
news is that thanks to the Internet, we hope to be able to provide you with
daily reports from Adelaide about how things are progressing while
the competition is in full swing. I'll be taking my laptop and digital camera
with me and I'm sure that whatever venue we stay at should be able to email
materials back to the South Burnett so we can give you news literally as
it happens. This will be a first for our region - probably a first for
something like this in Australia - and if all goes well you'll know how we
went before we even get back. Stay tuned!
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See South Burnett
Food and Wine At Catering 2003
-
 23rd September 2003: Several South Burnett food and wine producers
will be showcasing their quality products at next month at Catering 2003
- the giant catering industry trade fair that will be held at the Brisbane
Convention and Exhibition Centre from the 26th to the 28th October. As part
of the industry event, Queensland regions have been invited to occupy a precinct
of the exhibition hall to promote their region's cuisine with the potential
to acquire lucrative supply contracts. Exhibition organisers Eventcorp and
Food Circus made a trip out to the South Burnett earlier this week and were
astounded by the amount and diversity of product available from the area
- so much so that they decided one day wasn't enough to see all the local
producers. So they'll be returning shortly to arrange stall space for more
South Burnett businesses. Stallholders currently signed up for the event
include
Stuart Range Estates,
Kingaroy Cheese,
Clovely Estate Fine Wines
and Paradise Creek Meats. The Catering fair will also show what's
hot in innovative products, hospitality equipment, hospitality consultancy
and food and beverage. A central arena (hosted by renown chefs Peter Howard
and Alison Alexander) will provide visitors with cooking demonstrations,
product launches, cooking competitions, seminars and presentations. Personally,
I've attended every one of these catering fairs since 1986, and they never
disappoint So if you're a South Burnett food or wine producer and would like
to arrange an exhibit area for your company, contact Eventcorp on (07) 3846-5858
or email
catering@eventcorp.com.au.
Or if you're in the catering industry and would like to attend, register
for your free industry invitation now at
http://www.catering2003.com.au.
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Kingaroy Hotel Launches
Red Earth Restaurant
-
20th September
2003: Fans of award-winning South Burnett chef Steve Gudzinski
- the former Head Chef at the Bell Tower Restaurant who was recently profiled
in The Good Life (see story below) - will be pleased to hear that
they can now enjoy his unique Australian cuisine at another location. Steve
has moved down the road to the Kingaroy Hotel's new Red Earth Restaurant
and he's already launched an exciting new menu there. Steve tells me that
he intends to continue the tradition he established at The Bell Tower of
only using the freshest and best local produce he can lay his hands on, and
the new menu reflects this (though he does include a few seafood dishes -
the seafood is couriered up to the restaurant from the coast every day).
The Kingaroy Hotel was purchased from the Journey group earlier this year
and since then new owners Bruce and Kelly McLennan have put
a lot of thought, effort and money into extensive renovations and refurbishments
right through the building. The Red Earth Restaurant (which is situated at
the rear of the hotel) is still being developed as I write - but future plans
include dressing the food service staff in uniforms made by Mud Gear Australia
and developing a wine and food bar that will serve up our first class
locally produced vintages along with freshly shucked oysters, Kingaroy cheeses
and antipasto platters. Red Earth is open for lunch and dinner most days
of the week and most main meals are in the $12 to $20 range.
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South Burnett Scores
More Major Media Coverage
-
 17th
September 2003: South Burnett residents who read yesterday's
Courier-Mail may have
been surprised to find a well-known face on the cover of the paper's Good
Life section: Steve Gudzinski, the former chef at The Belltower Restaurant
(Steve now runs the Red Earth Restaurant in Kingaroy and I'll have a story
about that very soon). Yesterday's Good Life profiled four regional chefs
in its centre spread and discussed the growing trend for capital city cooks
to leave the smog and traffic snarls behind and get deeply involved with
regional foods instead. Moving to the regions used to be considered career
suicide. But in the 21st century when we all yearn for top quality Australian
foods skillfully prepared from prime local ingredients, it's now considered
the vanguard of culinary adventurism. It's certainly a movement that Steve
and I are both very proud to be part of. And it's even more wonderful to
see that the same things that drew us to the South Burnett - top quality
foods and rapidly evolving wines - are now being recognised in the urban
markets we left behind. Next week you can expect to see even
more about the South Burnett in the Good Life (you'll have
to buy the paper - I'm not giving anything away!). And if you live in
the region you'll also find some interesting material appearing over the
next few weeks in both the South Burnett Times and the South Burnett
Adviser. One of these is a regional foods cookery supplement that the
Times are printing up. As for the others... well, you'll have to get both
papers to find out too! Photo: Red Earth chef Steve Gudzinski on
the front of yesterday's Good Life supplement in Queensland's Courier-Mail
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Captain's Paddock
Takes Out 2003 Tourism Award For Regional Winery
-
 14th September 2003: Last night I assisted
chef Steve Winter from Nanango's Copper Country Restaurant prepare
the food for the 2003 Fraser Coast South Burnett Tourism Awards dinner
which was held at Kingaroy Town Hall. The FCSBTA Awards are the major tourism
gongs in our area (which - for Tourism Queensland's purposes - includes Hervey
Bay, the Fraser Coast and Maryborough as well as the South Burnett) and I
was as delighted as every other local when South Burnett operators walked
off with 13 of the top 24 awards on offer (about 55%).
This is a pretty remarkable achievement when you consider that we comprise
less than 25% of the total membership! While every winner was deserving
and had something valuable to say, Peter Eaton from
Captain's Paddock (which
won the 2003 Wineries Award and received a high commendation in the Hosted
Accommodation category too) made a big impression on the crowd by pointing
out that as far as the region's wine industry goes, the real competitors
aren't other regional operators but other wine regions. Peter
and his partner Maryanne Pidcock (pictured at right) have been
strong proponents of developing a "wine culture" in the South Burnett ever
since they took over the Paddock in 2001 and are active members of both the
South Burnett Wine Industry Association and the South Burnett Tourism
Association. Maryanne is also one of the directors on the board of the Queensland
Wine Industry Association. So it was great to see them receive some well-deserved
recognition for their efforts (PS: Congratulations must also go to
Barambah Ridge and
Clovely Estates, who both
received high commendations in the Wineries category; and to the Bunya
Forest Gallery who won the Eateries and Cafes section, narrowly beating
last year's equally worthy winner Dimities Cottage into a highly
commended).
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South Burnett Cellar
Doors To Expand By 20% In Next 6 Months
-
 11th September
2003: If you're a fan of South Burnett wine you'll probably be as delighted
as I am to hear that the number of cellar doors in the region is set
to expand by more than 20% over the next 6 months. Projects
currently on the boil that I know about include:
-
Kingsley
Grove's new cellar door and restaurant at Goodger (expected in
October/November)
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Kingaroy Ridge's
new cellar door at Booie (expected towards the end of 2003/early
2004)
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The Whistlestop
Cellar Door in Nanango (expected towards the end of 2003)
-
Moffatdale
Ridge's new cellar door/eatery outside Murgon (expected to be
in operation by Christmas)
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Tipperary
Estate's new cellar door/eatery at Moffatdale (expected late
2003/early 2004)
Most of these
projects are either currently before their local Councils gaining building
approval and/or waiting for the State Government to grant them liquor licences.
They'll make a substantial addition to the South Burnett's 16 existing cellar
doors. They also represent a pretty big leap from the 6 cellar doors that
existed in 1999 and show just how fast our wineries are expanding. The new
facilities will mean that locals will have even more outlets to choose from
on a weekend (some of the plans I've heard about are really delightful!).
And they also mean that tourists - whose numbers expanded by a whopping
35% in the last year - will also have more options to choose from
in the very near future. This year the South Burnett's grape crush was almost
double the Granite Belt's. It was also bigger than the crush of all
other Queensland wine regions put together. These exciting new projects
illustrate the well-founded confidence our winemakers have in their
products.
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New Peanut Products
Launched At Annual Industry Dinner
-
 8th September 2003: You may think that just about everything
that could be done with peanuts was done long ago. Not so! The
Peanut Company of Australia proved it to a crowd of close to 250 people on
Saturday night when Queensland Primary Industries Minister Henry Palaszczuk
launched two completely new peanut products at the annual Peanut Industry
Dinner held at Kingaroy Town Hall. The first of these - "Light and Bubbly
Peanuts" - are a new line of extra fresh, extra crisp peanuts designed
for aficionados who love the taste of these wonderful nuts but are hungry
for something really different. These new nuts go especially well with beer
(watch out beer nuts!) and are initially being released by
The Peanut Van. Expect
to see them on their web site shortly. The second product was a peanut-and-grape
flavoured ice cream developed jointly by The Peanut Van, Ziebarth
Wines and Childers-based
Mammino Gourmet
Ice-Creams. Mammino developed two peanut-flavoured ice-creams for
The Peanut Van about a year ago and they've been such runaway sellers that
the companies are now expanding the range. Minister Palaszczuk found he couldn't
stop at a single mouthful at the launch - and neither could the 50% of dinner
guests who had this ice cream served up to them for dessert (the other 50%
received a dark and light mousse). You'll be able to obtain the new
peanut-and-grape ice-cream this season at The Peanut Van and at any of Mammino's
expanding number of outlets. Photo: Can you stop at one? Primary
Industries Minister Henry Palaszczuk found he couldn't when he tried the
new peanut and grape ice-cream on Saturday night.
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South Burnett Scores
Major Coverage In Courier-Mail
-
5th September
2003: I may be a little behind in mentioning this, but congratulations
to the wine, food and accommodation operators who were featured in the Saturday
23rd August edition of the Courier-Mail Travel Guide. Almost two weeks
on people are still talking about the high praise dished out to our region
by Courier-Mail journalist and travel writer David Bentley, who wrote
that "...the South Burnett district is becoming a beacon for tourists seeking
good food, wine and country hospitality". Mr Bentley visited the Murgon-Kilkivan
end of our region and dropped in to see Barambah Ridge Winery, Belle
Villa Farm, Cloveley Estate, Dusty Hill Vineyard,
Tipperary Estate, Nev Sweeney's Kilkivan Butchery and Camille
Mortaud the cheesemaker - all while enjoying the hospitality of
Bruce and Rae Hurley at
The Left Bank. David Bentley
was one of Team South Burnett's menu testers recently and he's certainly
not one to mince his words! Particular acknowledgment must go to the Hurley's
who made a major impact on the tone of the Courier Mail's article - particularly
(and much to my satisfaction) its focus on South Burnett's regional cuisine.
This isn't all too surprising, though. As mentioned in the feature, the Left
Bank prides itself on using fresh regional produce and last year this focus
earned the couple an award at the South Burnett Regional Culinary Competition
for their signature dish of Beef and Red Claw (the recipe appears
on this website). A gigantic
thumbs-up to everyone involved in this glowing article. Keep up the good
work!
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Dusty Hill Wins Three
Medals At 2003 Melbourne Wine Show
-
 2nd September 2003: Moffatdale winemaker
Dusty Hill Estate took
out three bronze medals at the 2003 Melbourne Wine Show recently
- a pretty stunning accomplishment for a wine off 4-year-old vines exhibiting
at one of Australia's top three wine shows. Dusty Hill took a bronze for
their 2001 Merlot, another for their 2001 Shiraz and a third
for their 2001 Forbidden Shiraz. The competition wasn't lacklustre
either! This year's Show judges said the field was "extraordinarily difficult"
because the quality of wines was so uniformly high (and they were submitted
from right around the nation). As a result, differences between the winning
entries often came down to a matter of a point or two. Dusty Hill's viticulturist
Joe Prendergast said that he was "delighted" with the wins - partly
because of the prestige of the Melbourne Wine Show itself, and partly because
it's a tribute to the semi-organic growing methods he's been pioneering in
the Estate's vineyards, where he uses a mixture of organic fertilisers and
a regime of low-toxicity, pre-emptive spraying to coax the vines into producing
top-quality fruit. "These vines probably won't reach their full potential
for another 4 to 6 years yet," he said, "so it's very encouraging to get
these sorts of results right now." If you want to try the 2001 Merlot, it's
available from the Dusty Hill Estate Tasting Room, or on their web site for
$16 per bottle right now (but you'd better hurry: Dusty Hill only
produce limited quantities of most releases). If you want to try the 2001
Shiraz and the 2001 Forbidden Shiraz, though, you'll need to wait until next
Autumn: they're still aging up to maximum release state.
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