Sirromet Wines

Sirromet is the winery most Brisbane residents name first, and the one most visitors get taken to. It sits at Mount Cotton on the Redlands Coast, a 35 to 45 minute drive from the CBD, on an estate of around 560 acres surrounded by bushland with views out over Moreton Bay.

It is also the least typical cellar door on this list, because the scale is entirely different. This is a state-of-the-art production winery with multiple dining rooms, glamping accommodation and a concert lawn, rather than a family shed with a tasting bar. Whether that is a feature or a drawback depends on what you want from the day.

A Granite Belt winery with a Brisbane address

The detail that surprises people is that Sirromet’s vineyards are not at Mount Cotton. Around 100 hectares are under vine in the Granite Belt, on the high country near Stanthorpe roughly three hours south-west, where altitude and granite soils give Queensland its only genuinely cool-climate wine region. The fruit is trucked to Mount Cotton, where the winery and cellar door are.

That split is deliberate rather than accidental. Queensland entrepreneur Terry Morris visited the Granite Belt, recognised what the terroir could do, and built the production and visitor operation within easy reach of Brisbane and the Gold Coast instead of three hours from either.

It means a visit to Sirromet is a Granite Belt tasting without the Granite Belt drive — which is the whole proposition, and worth understanding before you go, because the vines you can see from the terrace are not the vines the wine came from.

What Sirromet pours

The range leans on what the Granite Belt does well: Shiraz, Merlot and Chardonnay are the varieties most associated with the label, across whites, reds, sparkling and a dessert range. Tasting flights are available by style — white, red, mixed and premium — at both the cellar door and the restaurant.

Behind-the-scenes winery tours run through the production areas and finish with a tutored tasting, which is the most instructive option if you want to understand the operation rather than just drink. A wine blending experience with a sommelier is also offered, where you build and bottle your own blend.

Programmes and pricing change, so check what is currently running before you plan a day around a specific experience.

Visiting Sirromet from Brisbane

The estate is 35 to 45 minutes from the Brisbane CBD and a similar run from the Gold Coast, which makes it the most accessible winery to the city by a wide margin. There is dining at both the cellar door and the terrace restaurant, and on-site glamping accommodation if you want to stay.

Sirromet also hosts concerts on the lawn and seasonal events, and those days are a completely different experience from a quiet weekday tasting — check the events calendar before you go, in either direction depending on what you are after.

It is the easiest winery near Brisbane to reach and the hardest to have to yourself. Weekdays are noticeably quieter than weekends.

Getting there, and going with a driver

Sirromet Wines is not a stop on any of our scheduled departures. Our regular Brisbane wine day is the Hinterland Heritage Wine Tour, which runs three heritage cellar doors south of the city. If Sirromet Wines is specifically where your group wants to go, it is a private charter conversation — see the Brisbane wine tours hub for what departs the city.

Unless you are at City Winery, Mount Cotton means a drive each way and somebody in the group staying off the tastings. That is the trade-off worth pricing before you choose between doing it yourself and putting a charter on it.

The other wineries near Brisbane

Where else to drink wine near Brisbane

Sirromet Wines is one of 4 cellar doors within reach of Brisbane, and they sit in four different directions out of the city — one in the Valley itself, one south-east towards Moreton Bay, one north on the D’Aguilar Range and one west in the Fassifern Valley. They are not a circuit; pick one and give it the day.

• City Winery Brisbane — Fortitude Valley
• Ocean View Estates — Mount Mee
• Kooroomba Vineyard and Lavender Farm — Mount Alford

South of the city there is a denser run of cellar doors — eight of them across the Gold Coast hinterland, which our hinterland wine trail guide covers as a day out of Brisbane. For tours, start at the Brisbane wine tours hub or the Mount Tamborine wine tour, or Queensland wine tours for the state as a whole.

Frequently asked questions