By Melissa Coleman
Boutique winery Just Red Wines bought home a swag of medals last week from the Australian Small Winemakers Show, including the gold medal for its 2021 Tannat.
You’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of this lesser-known grape variety, as the well-known varieties such as Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are staple names for any wine lover.
This non-mainstream wine variety hails from the South West of France and is the nation grape variety of Uruguay.
Just Red Wines owner Tony Hassall said these particular grapes grew really well in the Granite Belt climate.
“The Tannat has actually won quite a few medals, our first vintage of Tannat was in 2014,” he said.
“It’s a full bodied red and is also a great blending wine.”
“We have found it adds quality to our Cabernet Merlot blends.”
The accolades didn’t stop there with the vineyard also awarded the trophy for the Champion Queensland Red Wine of the Show.
“Our 2021 Shiraz Viognier was also awarded a bronze medal,” Tony said.
Tony and his wife Julia and their son Michael have been growing grapes and producing quality red wines in the Granite Belt since 2005.
“It’s very much a family affair.”
“Michael and I are qualified winemakers and make the wine together,” he said.
There are many grape varieties cultivated at Just Red Wines on the Granite Belt, such as Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier, and Tannat, however, Tony and Julia’s vineyard story began in New Zealand.
Tony was an accountant, but in 1989 the couple purchased their first vines from Joe Corban.
With their three children in tow, they bought a small block of land outside of Whakatane in New Zealand in the sand dunes overlooking White Island and planted “Kanuka Forest Wines”, a 7-acre vineyard and boutique winery.
Tony went to Lincoln University to study winemaking and viticulture for a year while Julia kept things going steady on the home front.
However, after a few years of wine sales, it became apparent that this project would never be economic.
“The property wasn’t well suited to growing wine grapes, the water table was too high, and the climate was generally too wet to make good wine consistently,” Tony said.
Despite the fact that the wine growing venture was not profitable, the stunning sea views provided the family with a good return on the property sale. As a result, they moved to Australia in search of more stable ground and a grape growing opportunity.
Prior to migrating to the Granite Belt, Tony explored the region and found that Eukey Road offered just what they were searching for – an elevated area of winemaker’s land.
“It was love at first sight. The property had previously grown table grapes for 50 years but had reverted to grazing land and tomatoes in the last 10 years.”
For the second time, the family planted a 7-acre vineyard and established a winery from scratch.
They decided to specialise in red wine selecting the regional giants Shiraz and Merlot.
Julia and Nikki, their daughter, came up with the name “Just Red Wines” thus achieving a name that people would easily remember and make it obvious that we only make red wine.
“The question we are most often asked is why do you only make red wine? Our short answer is that life’s too short to drink white wine!” Tony said.
For four years the young family worked hard to develop the vineyard.
“There was no power on the property and hot water came in the winter from the wetback on the Crown No 5 wood stove, and in summer from long coils of poly pipe spread over the rocks.”
Tony worked as an accountant in Warwick while studying more viticulture, eventually achieving him a Master of Science in Agriculture.
A non-commercial vintage was achieved in 2002 from a small block of vines, known as the “organic vineyard” that they had planted in 1998.
This vineyard became part of Tony’s Master’s thesis comparing organic with conventional wine grape production.
However, tragedy struck on March 14, 2003 when Tony, Michael and Nikki and Michael’s 3 friends were on their way to pick their very first vintage.
“Nikki and Michael’s friend Paul were killed at the Southern Bi-pass of Stanthorpe when an elderly driver with poor eyesight came through the give way sign.”
“Thankfully there is a roundabout at that intersection now,” Tony said.
With heavy hearts Tony and Julia decided to complete their first vintage, the picking must go on.
Michael was still in hospital with a broken jaw and other injuries.
Our friends from New Zealand who helped with the first project stepped up, along with other friends and relatives and we picked the first vintage which was named “Nikki’s First Pick”.
The family has continued Nikki’s memory by calling the Shiraz vineyard that she helped to establish, “Nikki’s Vineyard”.
A wine is produced called “Nikki’s Vineyard Syrah” from that vineyard.
The “Daily Red Shiraz” is produced in other years from this vineyard.
Soon after Nikki’s passing, their son Terran, who had stayed in New Zealand came over to live at the vineyard and to offer a helping hand.
However, after a couple of years he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
Terran gradually lost his mobility, he passed away on 15 March 2021.
One day, while making wine Julia noticed a barrel that, through spillages, had formed a pattern that looked like a bearded man’s head.
The barrel became a novelty in the cellar door for years.
They decided to call the wine “Blessed” on the strength of the “Jesus like” image the barrel had produced.
The race to ferment the best wine became a challenge.
On two separate occasions, Tony tipped out entire tanks because he was not happy with the wine.
It soon became apparent that having just two grape varieties wasn’t enough to satisfy the cellar door demand.
Tony began to research to find the perfect grape variety; his research lead him to Tannat.
“The climate in its home in Madiran in France was similar to the Granite Belt and it would stand up quite well in wet seasons.”
They planted a few rows of Tannat and produced their first vintage in 2014
They found that Tannat proved to be a great blending variety that provided more colour, fruit and tannin to their blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
“So, the CMT (Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot – Tannat) was born.”
In 2018 tourist cabins were established on the property.
The cabins gave Tony and Julia the incentive to mark out a well-defined bush walk on the 30-acre bush land which would allow cabin guests to enjoy nature walks through the bush, and granite outcrops crossing the small creek.
Now in 2022, the family vineyard is blossoming and producing the finest Just Red Wines.
