Witches Falls Winery

Witches Falls is the winery most likely to change a sceptic’s mind about Queensland wine. It sits on the Tamborine Mountain plateau, the highest and coolest of the hinterland’s three wine sub-regions, and it has built recognition on the National Wine Show circuit — a national stage rather than a regional one.

The name comes from the national park beside it. Witches Falls was declared Queensland’s first national park in 1908, which makes this one of the few cellar doors in the country able to point out the window at a piece of conservation history.

Queensland’s first national park, and a winery named for it

The 1908 declaration matters more than a plaque. It came at the start of a national conversation about protecting landscape rather than clearing it, and Tamborine Mountain — a plateau of remnant rainforest above a rapidly cleared coastal plain — was an obvious candidate.

The winery has taken the name and, in a sense, the ambition. Consistent showing on the National Wine Show circuit is not something a novelty operation achieves; it requires wines judged against the rest of the country rather than against local expectations.

Wild ferments and plateau whites

Elevation is the whole story here. At around 500 metres the nights are cooler than the valley floors below, and that difference holds acid in the fruit — the hardest thing to achieve in a subtropical climate and the reason the plateau’s whites are tighter and more linear than the valley’s.

Wild-ferment styles are a signature: fermentation driven by the yeasts present on the fruit and in the winery rather than a cultured strain, which gives more textural, less predictable wines. Verdelho and Malbec also feature.

If you are tasting across the hinterland in a single day, arrange to be here either first or last, and taste it against a valley-floor wine. The contrast is the most instructive thing the region offers.

Visiting Witches Falls

Tamborine Mountain is the closest of the three sub-regions to the coast — roughly 30 to 45 minutes from Surfers Paradise and about an hour from Brisbane. It is also the most concentrated: more than ten wineries, a distillery, a craft brewery and a cheese factory sit within a few kilometres of each other.

The plateau has the most reliable trading of the three sub-regions, and Witches Falls has historically opened seven days. Confirm current hours before travelling regardless — that is true of every cellar door in this guide.

Visiting on a guided tour

Witches Falls Winery is not a scheduled stop on the Hinterland Heritage Wine Tour, which runs three fixed cellar doors in the valleys. To taste at Witches Falls Winery with a driver, either build it into a private charter or look at our Gold Coast hinterland departures, which weight the day towards Tamborine Mountain.

Whichever way you come at it, North Tamborine is not a place to drive from after a tasting. The range roads are narrow and winding, and on a guided day nobody in your group has to sit it out to get everyone home.

Nearby on the trail

The rest of the hinterland wine trail

Witches Falls Winery is one of 8 venues that make up the wine country behind the Gold Coast, spread across three sub-regions: the Tamborine Mountain plateau, the Canungra Valley and the Albert River corridor. The others are worth knowing about even if you only have a day.

• Albert River Wines — Tamborine
• O'Reilly's Canungra Valley Vineyards — Canungra
• Mount Nathan Winery — Mount Nathan
• Sarabah Estate Vineyard — Sarabah
• Cedar Creek Estate — North Tamborine
• Cauldron Distillery — North Tamborine
• Tamborine Mountain Distillery — North Tamborine

For how Tamborine Mountain fits with the rest of the region, and what else is worth doing up the range on the same day, see our Gold Coast hinterland wine trail guide. For tours, start at the Gold Coast wine tours hub or the Mount Tamborine wine tour, or Queensland wine tours for the state as a whole.

Frequently asked questions