2007 Sirromet Granite Belt Merlot

Sirromet choose those beautiful, long, slim bottles. And the red has a handsome black and silver label. The merlot is a surprising ruby red with a hint of purple. There's chocolate with a hint of mint and pepper in the aroma. This Granite Belt (more to the north) merlot is like drinking a shiraz from southern Australia, but there is some depth in the long or the back palate. On the (further) plus side, it has only a very tiny sense of that dustiness typical of merlot.

2009 Sirromet Granite Belt Classic White, 2011 Unwooded Chardonnay, 2010 Verdelho

Tired of ordering local wines online, and seeing the lovely arneis and vermentino advertised at the Ballina Dan Murphy's, I took myslef off there only to gratifyingly find DM had a few Sirroment wines from the QLD Granite Belt and these are relatively cheap at $9.49. Sirromet smartly have their large S on the screw cap, on those lovely tall, slim bottles, which means you can identify them immediately in a bag of bottles at floor level, which is how I keep mine.

The unwooded chardonnay and verdelho are the better of the whites.

Even though unwooded, the chardonnay still has depth and some texture. It's all honey and apricot, reminding you what chardonnay should be, but still a relatively light gold in colour.

The Classic White is what should be a gorgeous combination of viognier and chardonnay (annonyingly, percentages are not specified). It's pine and apple, but a little too severe and medicinal to really be experienced as pleasure.

The verdelho is textured, oily with its mouthful, which is always comforting, except perhaps on a very hot day, when you'd like something lighter. Pale to mid-gold in colour, there's citrus and pine in the perfume and citrus on the initial palate, with something like green apple or unripe pear  or pine again on the extended palate. Sherbety but stern. It's tart and acidic, and has a medium to long  length and structured.

2010 Heritage Estate Granite Belt Verdelho

Its perfume is distinctly ripe pineapple while unripe pine is on the palate where the mouthfill is stern and full. Heritage Estate is formally titled, so the matching label  isn't a surprise with gold used in a big capital lettering of H. Otherwise the label is an off-white cream and it loses much in its communication and appeal. The vineyard is in Gilmore. And verdelho is a 'flagship ' of this and other QLD wineries. The label says barrel and tank ferments take place with a use of a variety of yeast strains and lees again. So you'd expect a stern wine filling the mouth. I bought this at the July 2011 Lismore 4WD, Caravan, Camping and Marine Show, becasue the wine is not carried in any bottleshop I know of in the Nothern Rivers.

2009 Deetswood Tenterfield Unwooded Chardonnay

Deetswood has a new label which is finely judged in its minimalism. Black, sliver and white. This chardonnay is from a cool climate and unwooded, so it can be unrecognisable as chardonnay, making you long for 'the real thing'. There is apricot in the perfume; it's very dry on the palate and relatively stern. But the more you drink, the more lengthy it becomes on the palate and the deeper it is in the mouth, making you remember a true chardonnay, of the wooded variety. I did drink the bottle almost in one go! $15.00.

2009 and 2010 Topper's Mountain New England Gewurztraminer

The 2009 wine has won gold and silver at the Australian Small Winemakers and  Alternative Varieties Show. The wine is made by the Kirby family. I bought this at the July 2011 Lismore 4WD, Caravan, Camping and Marine Show, because the wine is not carried in any bottleshop I know of in the Nothern Rivers. It is a clear lemon-green in colour. It has a grapy, fruity, sweet odour, and finishes slightly sweet. But it  has a dry early and middle palate. My drinking companion throught it would be good with food.

The 2010 is a pale-heading-toward-deeper lemon, with spice and sugar in the perfume, and an edge of musk. It's smooth and slippery on the palate and a little musky there too, and like a small, not-too-sweetish biscuit. Not your average wine said my drinking companion, but as overly perfumed. It's long in the palate, memorable, and almost-but-not-quite full-bodied. According to Jancis Robinson's Oxford Companion to Wine, the traditional Alsace Gewurztraminer is full bodied, golden and very perfumed. But although New England is cold, it's perhaps not as cold as Europe, and I've found wine grapes from the Granite Belt, for example, although grown in a high altitude, are lighter than what you would expect. So this Gewurtz is probably a new-world take on its traditional relative.I ordered the 2010 online,for $30, once I found out the winery had won a new set of awards.  But then I saw a couple of reds at the Clunes Cellars. Owing, I am assuming, to his enterprise and passion, Jared, the winemaker at the Clunes Cellar, has organised a tasting with the Vigneron, Mark Kirby (Mike Hayes, of the Granite Belt's Symphony Hill, is the winemaker) on Saturday 10 November. See you there. Check out the time/s with the Clunes store.