Queensland’s Granite Belt Uncorked – Foundations: Ballandean Estate and the Rise of an Unlikely Wine Region

The Granite Belt doesn’t reveal itself all at once. The road south from Stanthorpe rises and falls through orchards, granite outcrops, and the kind of cool, high‑country air that feels almost improbable for Queensland. It’s only when you turn into Ballandean Estate — past the weathered sign, the old vines, and the unmistakable sense of continuity — that the region’s story begins to sharpen into focus.
This is where Queensland’s modern wine industry truly began. And it’s impossible to walk these grounds without feeling that history under your feet.

Large granite outcrops like this line every highway

Getting here is part of the experience. The journey from Brisbane to the Granite Belt took a little over three hours from the airport, beginning on fast‑moving tollways before climbing through the Cunningham Gap, the dramatic mountain pass that cuts through Queensland’s Main Range and links the coast to the Darling Downs. It’s a steep and winding but spectacularly scenic section of the drive — and during my visit, it was slowed by major reconstruction works aimed at stabilising the escarpment and improving long‑term safety. Once complete, the upgraded route will offer a faster and more resilient passage into this cooler landscape of fields, orchards, and vineyards.

A Landscape That Shouldn’t Make Sense — But Does

The Granite Belt is a paradox: a cool‑climate island perched inside a warm‑climate state. At 800–1000 metres above sea level, the nights are cold, the winters even biting, and the soils are ancient, decomposed granite — poor, hungry, and perfect for wine grapes.

Long before the Puglisi family arrived, the region was known for apples, stone fruit, and table grapes. Wine existed only in fragments:

• a few vines planted by Italian and German migrants for home consumption,
• a Catholic priest making sacramental wine in the 1860s,
• the occasional experimental planting that never quite took hold.

Nothing suggested that Queensland would ever become a wine‑drinking state, let alone a wine‑producing one.

And then came Angelo.

Angelo and Mary Puglisi

The Puglisi Story: Migration, Grit, and a Quiet Revolution

The Puglisi family settled in Ballandean in the early 20th century, part of the wave of Italian migrants who brought with them a deep, instinctive relationship with food and wine. They were farmers first — growing table grapes and stone fruit — but wine was always part of the family table.

Angelo grew up in this world of hard work and homemade wine. By the 1960s, he had taken over the family farm, and he saw something in the Granite Belt that few others did: the potential for true cool‑climate viticulture.

It was a radical idea. Queenslanders drank beer. The climate was “wrong”. The market didn’t exist. But Angelo had the two things that matter most in pioneering regions: conviction and patience.

In 1968, he and his wife Mary planted their first wine grapes on what is now the Opera Block. It was a turning point not just for the family, but for the entire state.

Building Ballandean Estate: A Family That Never Stopped Working

From those first plantings, Ballandean Estate grew not through shortcuts or trends, but through decades of relentless effort.

A few defining truths illustrate the family’s ethos:

They built the region through wine tourism and hard work

Long before “wine tourism” became a buzzword, the Puglisi family understood that the Granite Belt needed visitors to survive. Their cellar door has been open seven days a week since the beginning, closing only for Christmas Day, Good Friday, and ANZAC Day. They open at 9am, well ahead of the Australian norm, because hospitality has always been a non‑negotiable part of their ethos.

And behind that hospitality sits an extraordinary work ethic. Angelo, now 82, still spends around 90% of his day on the tractor, tending the vines with the same commitment he had in the 1960s. The rhythm of the estate — early starts, long days, and a culture of showing up — is woven into every part of the visitor experience.

The Ballandean Estate cellar door entrance

They turned culture into community

Ballandean Estate has always been more than a place to taste wine; it has been a gathering place for the region. Over the years, the family has hosted operatic concerts in the vineyard, charity events, and countless weddings — celebrations that have brought people from across Queensland and beyond. The estate’s ability to blend wine, culture, and community has helped shape the Granite Belt’s identity as a destination, not just a wine region.

A Family That Continues to Shape the Industry

The Puglisi legacy isn’t confined to Ballandean Estate. It radiates outward into the broader Australian wine landscape.

• Leeanne Puglisi‑Gengemi, Angelo’s daughter, Sales & Customer Relations Manager, was the first Queensland woman appointed to the Australian Winemakers’ Federation Board, a milestone that reflects both her leadership and the region’s growing national relevance.
• She also featured prominently in Tourism Queensland’s multimillion‑dollar 2020 campaign, which showcased the Granite Belt as a cool‑climate frontier worth discovering.
• In 2024, Ballandean Estate received a TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award, placing it among the top 10% of attractions worldwide — a testament to decades of hospitality, consistency, and genuine connection with visitors.

This is a family that doesn’t just make wine. They build industry, community, and identity.

Opening My Eyes

I arrived at the Estate at 9am sharp, to a warm greeting from Robyn Puglisi-Henderson, Angelo’s other daughter, and the Business and Export Manager for the Estate. I had always thought of Granite Belt as an “emerging wine district” but it took less than five minutes for the scales to fall from my eyes. The sense of history was immediately palpable. Robyn led me through the “old world” tasting room, and through the stunning Barrelroom Wine Lounge featuring large 160 year-old barrels full of aging fortified wines to the modern winery displaying the expected pneumatic press, stainless tanks and oak barrels along with a modern Italian bottling plant, before an overview of the Opera vineyard and adjacent  Shiraz vines, sharing parts of the family story as we walked.

Shiraz vines at Ballandean Estate

Returning to the Barrelroom Wine Lounge, I was fortunate to meet Boxi Zhen, the innovative Chinese winemaker who took over winemaking at Ballandean in 2023. Following on from a Food Science degree, Boxi did his Master of Viticulture and Oenology at University of Adelaide, completing vintages in China, the Napa and South Australia before arriving in the Granite Belt. His aim is to bring out the best expression of fruit and terroir with minimal intervention, combining modern and traditional winemaking methods.

Boxi and I in the Barrelroom Lounge

After chatting with Boxi and also meeting Robyn’s sister Leeanne, we returned to the main tasting room where Robyn continued the fascinating family story and guided me through a tasting of some of their exemplary wines.

As I tasted through the range, it became clear how deeply Ballandean Estate has shaped not just the history of the Granite Belt, but its modern identity as well. This is the region that pioneered the Strange Birds concept — a collective marketing initiative celebrating emerging and alternative varieties that thrive in the Granite Belt’s high‑altitude, cool‑climate conditions. The idea is simple but clever: if a grape represents less than 1% of Australia’s total plantings, it earns “Strange Bird” status. It’s a playful way of signalling that this is a region unafraid to experiment, and Ballandean Estate has been at the forefront of that movement for decades. Tasting their Fiano, Malvasia, Durif and Saperavi (among others) in the place where so much of this innovation began, gave the concept a sense of depth and continuity that marketing alone can’t convey. It’s beyond the scope of this short article to include tasting notes for every wine but here are my impressions of some of the most personally memorable.

2025 Wild Ferment Fiano. From a mix of whole bunch and destemmed fruit combined into the press, fermented in stainless tanks with wild yeast. Pale straw in the glass with fresh aromas of white stone fruits, ripe citrus and a faint nuttiness. On the palate light-bodied but textured, crisp and dry with fruity flavours, a distinct phenolic backbone and slight salinity. Rather yum and begs for some food.

2023 Wild Ferment Viognier. Fruit from 850m high vineyards on granite soils that reflect daytime warmth but are cool at night, allowing optimal development of balanced ripeness and flavour. Eight days on skins. Pale straw-lemon in the glass with a powerful nose of apricot, peach and melon laced with cinnamon and nutmeg spice. The textured palate is quite full-bodied but successfully maintains freshness with the fruit flavours more restrained than the nose suggests, with well-pitched acidity and cinnamon nutmeg and soft ginger spice lingering on the long finish. The best Viognier I’ve had for a long time – something quite distinctive and special, a wine for contemplation.

Angelo’s daughters Robyn and Leeanne

2025 Novello. Shiraz made in a playfully light and easy drinking style for early consumption. Bright magenta in the glass with distinct raspberry and boysenberry fruit aromas, and a sprinkle of white pepper. Surprisingly light-bodied on the palate with medium acidity, light background tannins, lots of juicy berry fruit and some gentle pepper spice. Chill it for a summer party and if you have friends that insist they don’t like red wine try them with this!

2023 Saperavi. An ancient Georgian variety with mid-season ripening and bold dark fruit, 14 months in French oak barrels with a high proportion new. Dense inky purple in the glass with powerful aromas of black and blue berries, bitter chocolate, cloves and charcuterie. The palate is rich, and plush and full-bodied with fine chalky tannins and balanced acidity, the blackberry, blueberry, plum and red cherry flavours are laced with a gamey umami, and sweet baking spices, the long finish has a slightly herbal edge of dried rosemary. Already delicious but this is definitely one for the cellar.

Angelo’s 1987 Rare Tawny. Ballandean make a variety of fortified wines that age in spectacular fashion in the barrels of the Barrelroom Lounge. Some of these are based on the Muscat grape – the first grape planted in the region as a table grape originally, with winemaking a fringe activity, but a grape that lends itself to the rich solera style wines of the better known  Rutherford region. This wine however is made like a vintage tawny port from Shiraz grapes with long oxidative aging in old neutral oak. Deep amber tawny in the glass, thick and viscous with aromas of treacle, figs, orange peel and roasted candied nuts. The palate is intense, rich and complex with treacle toffee, figs, prunes, and candied peel, notable rancio notes, richly sweet but with a fresh lift on the finish from the alcohol. I was delighted to taste and then purchase this wine for my eldest son’s birth year!

Some of the wines tasted at Ballandean Estate

Zooming Out: How a Region Found Its Voice

As Ballandean Estate matured, so did the Granite Belt. Other growers followed Angelo’s lead. Winemakers arrived from interstate. The region began to define itself not by imitation, but by authenticity:

• high altitude
• cool nights
• slow ripening
• granite soils
• small, family‑run producers
• a willingness to experiment

Today, the Granite Belt is one of Australia’s most distinctive cool‑climate regions — producing elegant Shiraz, structured Cabernet, vibrant Vermentino, Fiano, Tempranillo, Saperavi, and a whole constellation of alternative varieties.

But the through‑line remains clear: none of this would exist without the Puglisi family’s early leap of faith.

A Region Rooted in Family — and Standing at a Turning Point

Leaving Ballandean Estate, you carry with you more than a tasting experience. You carry the story of a family who built something from nothing, who believed in a region before anyone else did, and who have shaped its identity for more than half a century.

But this chapter of the Granite Belt story is now approaching a transition.

After four generations at the helm, the Puglisi family has placed Ballandean Estate on the market. It’s not a sign of struggle — the estate is thriving, recognised with a 2024 TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award and still drawing visitors from across Australia and beyond. The decision, as the family has explained, comes down to lifestyle. As Robyn Puglisi‑Henderson put it, the current generation and their children are ready to “explore other interests outside the family business.”

What’s striking is the tone of optimism. “We think it’s kind of an exciting time … it’s an exciting time for the region as well,” Robyn said, framing the sale not as an ending but as an evolution. The 77‑hectare estate has been a stable anchor in the Granite Belt for decades, and she is confident the right buyer will emerge. “We’re certainly not in a hurry – we’re not closing the doors tomorrow if we don’t find somebody.”

That reassurance matters. The family has made it clear they are “open to staying actively involved in the business” to ensure a seamless transition, and the cellar doors — famously open seven days a week, 9am starts and all — will remain open throughout the process.

It’s a familiar crossroads for many multigenerational wineries. The fifth generation grows up in a different world, with different ambitions, and the weight of a legacy this large can be both a privilege and a constraint. Yet here, the transition feels grounded, thoughtful, and true to the spirit of the estate: steady hands, clear communication, and a deep respect for the region they helped build.