Tasty tipples

ONE local winery has been winning gold, making a stir nationwide and bringing the spotlight on the quality wine the region produces.

GOING FOR GOLD: Clovely Estate's Kieran Carney holds their gold medal winning wines, the 2010 Left Field Barbera and 2009 Left Field Semillon. Photo: Jordan Philp. Picture: Jordan Philp

ONE local winery has been winning gold, making a stir nationwide and bringing the spotlight on the quality wine the region produces.

Moffatdale-based winery, Clovely Estate, recently won gold and a number of other awards for their wines at two national competitions and in the process gained an even more prestigious name for their drop.

CEO and chief winemaker for Clovely Estate Luke Fitzpatrick said the awards won were also wins for the region's wine industry.

"What I think we have achieved for not only ourselves, but for the local wine industry, is tremendous.

"Our wine was going up against some of the most iconic wineries in Australia and we toppled them."

The two awards won by Clovely Estate included the gold medal in May at the 2012 Royal Queensland wine show for their 2009 Left Field Semillon, as well as a gold medal and trophy in June at the 2012 Cairns Show wine awards for their 2010 Left Field Barbera among many other awards for various other wines they produce.

Mr Fitzpatrick said barrelling the competition at the last two award shows would definitely get more attention from the industry and notice the South Burnett for its premium wines.

"The awards we have won are great recognition of what we hope to achieve," he said.

"I really do see these awards and trophies as both a win for Clovely Estate and for the South Burnett."

Mr Fitzpatrick said Clovely Estate planted its first vines in 1997 and despite being a young wine region they are already getting name for themselves on the grapevine.

Mr Fitzpatrick said Clovely Estate and other wineries around the South Burnett were filling a niche in alternative varieties.

"Our potential might lay in some of the alternate varieties of wine that the region is producing, like barbera and nebbiolo," he said.

"The region's most popular wine is definitely the verdelho and it's what The South Burnett wineries do best but we're a very new wine region, perhaps what we do best we haven't planted yet."

The CEO believes the more medals and awards won by South Burnett wineries, the more people, both nationally and internationally, would realise the area is a world class wine region.

"Sure, it's nice to put a sticker on the bottles, but what the awards do is really vindicate what we're doing and what this region is capable of," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

Originally published as Tasty tipples