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Stonefruit

Beaujolais, local beef, and Beck on the radio.

The bar.
1 / 3The bar. supplied
Stonefruit stocks a diverse selection of drops.
2 / 3Stonefruit stocks a diverse selection of drops.Supplied
Stonefruit owners Alistair Blackwell and Karlee McGee.
3 / 3Stonefruit owners Alistair Blackwell and Karlee McGee.Natalia Bedwell

14.5/20

Contemporary$$

Natural-wine boffins who stumble across Stonefruit, a few clicks south of the Queensland border, must feel like the first New England settlers striking gold.

Tenterfield is best known for saddles, Peter Allen and war memorials; less so as a place to drink gamay, Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru and rare bottlings of Jean Francois Ganevat. Kudos, too, for the great takeaway selection of local wine, rustic handsome room, Wilco-heavy soundtrack and a menu name-checking farmers.

Under a shower of pecorino, Paul and Sue’s grass-fed beef tartare tastes like a cow that lived a good life grazing in nearby Eukey; a wedge of sorrel tart is dense and deep green, lifted further by a spritely salad of fennel and soft herbs; swordfish steak sits in a lip-sticking Tropea onion and saffron broth.

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And to finish with a Granite Belt cider and an apricot galette, at the height of stone-fruit season? Eureka.

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Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/nsw-good-food-guide/stonefruit-20241002-p5kfde.html