Students of the Granite Belt Wine School – a Tokyo-based program designed to educate Japanese sommeliers on the unique terroir, climate and elevation of Queensland’s Granite Belt – have been welcomed by the region’s wineries this week.

They are partaking in a special Granite Belt wine tour experience, seeing for themselves the unique qualities, history and diversity of the region.

The Granite Belt Wine School is an initiative driven by Sirromet Winery chief winemaker Adam Chapman and Wine Australia A+ specialist educator and Sirromet brand ambassador Minoru Numata in collaboration with fellow Granite Belt wineries Jester Hill, Ballandean Estate, Hidden Creek, and Ridgemill Estate. Initial interest in the program has been strong with over 140 Japanese sommeliers taking part in the program since it began in 2017.

“It’s so exciting to be able to physically show the students what they have learnt, touch the granite soils and boulders, taste the grapes straight off the vines, and share the insights on how our wines are made and what makes our beautiful region so unique,” said Chapman

Sirromet Winery, Mr Numata San and Japan’s largest travel agency JTB formed a partnership in 2018 to design an experience where students from the Granite Belt Wine School have the opportunity to visit the Granite Belt region and gain a hands-on experience as harvest takes place across each of the wineries, solidifying the knowledge gained through the program in Japan.

The five-day immersive experience includes winemaking activities such as crushing, pressing, winemaking demonstrations, 4wd vineyard tours and analysis of current vintage data and yields, as well as trial viticultural techniques. A key highlight for the students is the opportunity to learn about the Granite Belts strange bird varieties, from Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO) Australian Winemaker of the Year 2017, Mike Hayes, who joined Sirromet as director of vineyard and winery operations in 2018.

The tour concludes at Sirromet Winery’s Mount Cotton headquarters, with Chapman providing a winemaker’s tour of the state of the art facilities, tastings from tanks and barrels, in-depth premium wine tasting, and a food and wine matching experience in restaurant Lurleen’s. The students will spend their final night at Sirromet’s newly opened ‘glamping’ accommodation Sanctuary by Sirromet.

“Our focus on wine education, premium wine production and tourism development are core to growing the global reputation of the Granite Belt region, and thanks to our partners this program delivers exactly that.” Said Sirromet general manager Rod Hill

Sirromet Winery, currently export to Japan and the development of education and tourism visitation to Queensland is a key strategy to drive further growth of their export wine businesses.