Indulgence at Mount Cotton
Commandeering a rental car, we head south-east and are soon driving
through thick bush and pleasant five acre lots near Moreton Bay. Our destination: the award winning Sirromet
Winery at Mount Cotton .
The winery is testament to the work of its owner, direct marketing
guru, Terry Morris.
Sirromet is only a few years old but already
its wines are making connoisseurs take notice.
The property combines wining with dining and we are suitably impressed
when we walk into the imposing stone and timber building, perched
on a hill, taking our seats in Lurleen's Restaurant with views of rolling pastures and glimpses of Moreton Bay and North Stradbroke Island.
I'm tempted by the roasted green lentil and tomato garbure (a thick
winter soup) with a smoked lamb merguez sausage but the piece
d'resistance is the seared market fish (barramundi)
on crispy pancetta wafers, braised tomato fondue and North African
saffron sabayon.
The entrée is washed down with Sirromet's sparkling 1996
vintage pinot chardonnay and the main meal with the fruity Teewah
(named after a beach near Noosa) - a blend of shiraz, semillon,
sauvignon blanc and cab sav. After lunch, I feel gastronomically
complete.
The word Sirromet might have French connotations (it's pronounced
Sirromay), but the big secret, as revealed by our guide,
is that the name is taken from the owner's initials and last name
- T. E. Morris - spelt backwards. Lurleen's Restaurant is named
after Morris's wife.
The wine is pure Queensland. Most of Sirromet's grapes are grown
in two of Queensland's most productive wine areas - the Granite
Belt and the South Burnett - with chambourcin grapes grown
at Mount Cotton itself.
We head off for the cellar door and are offered samples of about
10 of Sirromet's 22 wines. We're told there's a spittoon behind
us but we take little advantage of it and are slightly unsteady by
the end of the taste testing.
So we buy up big and with our handy designated driver behind the
wheel of our hire car, we reminisce on a grand day out as we head back
to Brisbane.
For more information:
Sirromet Winery
Tel +61 7 3206 2999
Story courtesy of Tourism Queensland