Brisbane’s Aria took out Best Listing of Australian Wines and the top list for Queensland in the recent Wine List of the Year Awards. And a total of nine Queensland restaurants received the highest ranking of three glasses at the awards – so we’ve asked each sommelier to make a recommendation for a wine that’s perfect for imbibing this season, and what meal it would best match. Commence at South Bank and work your way back through Brisbane City and on to Fortitude Valley, from one elegant establishment to the next, to commence your roving wine education this weekend.

Aria, Brisbane City
Sommelier: Ian Trinkle
Recommended wine: 2012 Sami-Odi ‘Baby Tui’ Syrah from the Barossa Valley in South Australia ~ $146/bottle
Tasting notes: Savoury from the get go, with a perfume of ripe forest berries and pepper. Juicy and fresh with very fine, firm tannins. Elegant but with concentration and power.
More tidbits: The ‘Baby Tui’ is procured entirely from three treasured plots within the Hoffmann family’s ‘Dallwitz’ vineyard, adjacent to the Eben-Ezer/Walla Walla centenary stone. Each of these blocks are propagated from original Hoffmann cuttings and were planted on their own roots in 1995 and 1996, with the oldest vines planted prior to family records being established in 1912.
Meal to match: I like to pour this wine with our lamb … coming into spring, an obvious choice would be the slow-cooked neck with roasted rack, confit shiitake mushrooms, spring vegetables and spring garlic mustard puree.

Bacchus, South Bank
Sommelier: Andrew Giblin
Recommended wine: 2011 Alvaro Palacios ‘Camins del Priorat’ Garnacha/Samso blend from Priorat in Spain ~ $100/bottle
Tasting notes: Bright purple, with the aromas and flavours of ripe red berries, cola and spice cake, and a deeper note of licorice emerging with air. Lush and seamless, with very good finishing breadth and spicy persistence. Shows plenty of upfront appeal, but this wine has the concentration and balance to reward at least mid-term aging.
More tidbits: Alvaro is, for me, one of the most important winemakers in Spain, if not the world. He’s producing biodynamic, organic wines in Priorat and Bierzo that are world class. He studied winemaking in Bordeaux and worked for Chateau Petrus before he bought vineyards in Priorat in Spain. He now makes wine in Priorat under his label, as well as working with his cousin in Bierzo to produce the stunning Descendientes de J. Palacios wines. He makes Spanish wines that are the way Spanish wine should be and the ‘Camins del Priorat’ is a good place to start exploring Alvaro’s wines.
Meal to match: I find the 2011 ‘Camins del Priorat’ to be a beautifully aromatic wine that is plush and finishes with lovely fine tannins. It is a very versatile red and will work with a number of dishes on the Bacchus menu, but it pairs very well with our grill section, which includes rabbit, pork, venison and lamb.

Cru Bar + Cellar, Fortitude Valley
Retail manager: Graham Sutherland
Recommended wine: 2011 Azienda Agricola COS ‘Cerasuolo di Vittoria D.O.C.G’ from Sicily, Italy. Blend of 60% Nero d’Avola and 40% Frappato ~ $85/bottle, $18/glass or $11/half glass
Tasting notes: Starts off with light spicy plums and a touch of earth. A nice medium to light bodied style not unlike a Pinot Noir, with a sour cherry backbone and wonderfully integrated tannins. Easy drinking and can pair with a varied selection of foods.
More tidbits: This wine comes from Sicily – an extremely warm region in Italy. Some Australian wineries are starting to experiment with the same variety, such as Brash Higgins from McLaren Vale. It’s a wonderful variety well matched to the Australian climate.
Meal to match: Gnocchi with toasted hazelnuts, roasted pumpkin, ricotta and burnt butter sauce. This is one of my favourites on the menu and the wine cuts through the butter sauce and pairs perfectly with the roasted pumpkin and hazelnuts.

Il Centro, Brisbane City
Sommelier: Shawn Gomes
Recommended wine: 2012 Oltretorrente Timorasso from Piedmont, Italy ~ $16/glass, $80/bottle
Tasting notes: Paderna, a small town within Piedmont, is where Timorasso, an indigenous white variety, shines brightly. Think Riesling meets Sauvignon Blanc and so much more. Unfurls in the glass with much joy to be had, as it starts off all mandarins and Granny Smith apples to white peach and lemon drops, with a lick of minerality.
More tidbits: The vineyards are surrounded by forest and are wildly beautiful. They are also inhabited by cignalè (wild boar), which adds a little pep to our steps and makes access difficult upon a visit. Two pairs of shoes were lost that day.
Meal to match: A perfect complement to Il Centro’s famous sandcrab lasagne. A real Torvill & Dean moment.

Stokehouse Q, South Bank
Sommelier: Ben McNair
Recommended wine: 2013 Syrahmi ‘Demi’ Shiraz from Heathcote, Victoria ~ $15/glass
Tasting notes: Very floral and pretty on the nose. The palate is a wonderful mix of bright fruit, pepper and spice.
More tidbits: Made by ex-Melbourne sommelier/chef Adam Foster from the renowned Greenstone Vineyard.
Meal to match: It shines with our Milly Hill lamb shoulder dish – the wine works wonders with cuminata spice mix and the richness of the lamb. All that juicy acidity and spice just keeps you reaching for the glass.

Tattersall’s Club, Brisbane City (private members club)
Cellarmaster: Stacy Holmes
Recommended wine: 2012 Agnes de Cervera ‘La Petite Agnes’ Garnacha/Samso blend, Priorat, Spain ~ $45/bottle.
Tasting notes: The palate shows plush black cherries, plums and raspberries, framed by the classic Priorat orange juice and carrot notes (this comes from the schist rock known as ‘licorella’ soil in Priorat). The purity of the fruit really shines through as the oak influence is barely noticeable and the grapes natural acidity gives it great line and length.
More tidbits: Agnes de Cervera is a family-owned property in the centre of Priorat, the famed Spanish wine region situated just outside Barcelona. The Cervera family has spent the last decade acquiring and planting more than 250 acres of land in several villages, of which about 90 acres are vineyards. The combination of indigenous vines and high altitude vineyards creates a delicious medium-bodied wine that comprises 85% Grenache (Garnacha) and 15% Carignan (Samso), which has been aged for three months in French oak barriques after temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel.
Meal to match: Tasmanian rack of lamb on Moroccan roasted vegetables, spiced cous cous, finished with a braised fig and rosemary jus.

Winners from further afield …

Sails, Noosa
Wine program manager: Scott Estrich
Recommended wine: 2009 Tarras Vineyard ‘The Canyon’ Pinot Noir from Central Otago, New Zealand ~ $102/bottle
Tasting notes: This wine has a real muscle and form, structured with aromas on the darker edges of plum and cherry, with layers of spice and smoky earth. It is tantalisingly long on the palate, with velvety tannins that exude star anise-infused fruit and light dried herbs. It is a sheer delight to drink alone as much as it matches many styles of food.
More tidbits: Winemaker and owner Hayden Johnston is a reserved and quiet character, but underlying this exterior is a character as profound in commitment and passion as the very wines he produces. His successful career bean-counting in London was severely re-appraised whilst recovering from a serious traffic accident in hospital, and he realised he would prefer to risk everything he had than recover and return to his regular life in finance. He later sold his own house to fund the purchase of vacant land in Central Otago in his homeland of New Zealand, and set about single-handedly establishing a Pinot Noir vineyard using organic practices and management. His passion for wine and his resounding confidence in the region (outside of the small town of Tarras) lead him to his first vintage, and he realised that he was onto something incredible. That vintage gained immediate attention, and his wines have continued on an upward spiral ever since. I spent a day with Hayden on a tour of Central Otago last year, and have been a fully-fledged fan of his wines and winemaking ever since.
Meal to match: Sails chef Paul Leete features a main duck dish on the winter menu, which is the perfect match for this wine. The Maryland free-range confit duck is served with Dutch cream potatoes, fresh peas and cavolo nero in a mouth-watering jus embellished with chorizo, dried wild mushrooms and Manzanilla Sherry. The tannins of the wine embrace the duck perfectly, while its hue of spice and smoke interplays with the rustic jus magnificently.

Salt grill, Hilton Surfers Paradise
Sommelier: Hiro Okubo
Recommended wine: 2012 Grace ‘Gris de Koshu’ from Yamanashi, Japan ~ $75/bottle
Tasting notes: The nose is floral. On the palate you will taste white peach, brioche, white pepper and a nice minerality, balanced well with the acidity. The style is most similar to a Semillion.
More tidbits: The Koshu wine varietal was gene tested to try to deduce where it originated – there are rumours that it may have been brought to Japan via the Silk Road by Europeans, but this is still a mystery. The last three generations have been studying wines from the old and new world to fine tune and develop this interesting wine.
Meal to match: This wine goes perfectly with Luke Mangan’s Hiramasa Kingfish sashimi – a signature dish available at all his restaurants worldwide.