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