Our Story

We have events running all year, from lunches to master classes and vintage celebrations.  

Opera in the Vineyard is one of the largest annual regional events on the Granite Belt.  The event is one of South East Queensland’s premier cultural events, and the jewel of the Granite Belt’s social calendar. It provides an intoxicating mix of music, wine, food and an unforgettable time.

Ballandean Estate’s most outstanding feature is the Puglisi family’s commitment to excellence.

Winner of Qld Winery of the Year 2013, 2105, 2016.

• As a team, the Puglisi family is committed to building a successful business, increasing awareness of the industry and promoting the region by organising events that attract large numbers of tourists and encourage them to return again and again.
• Individually, members of the family are representatives on local and regional wine and tourism committees that assist in promotion and expansion of the region.
• The Puglisi family who operate the business are Angelo and Mary Puglisi, along with the daughters and sons-in-law, Leeanne and Mario Gangemi and Robyn and Ian Henderson.

A vinicultural vision

2018 marks the 50^th anniversary of Shiraz plantings on the Opera Block vineyard at Ballandean Estate, Queensland’s oldest family-owned and -operated winery. Estate founder Angelo Puglisi had a vision to develop a viable and sustainable commercial wine industry in the Granite Belt region, and in 1968, he planted a block of Shiraz vines with his new wife Mary on his Ballandean farm, cementing the Puglisi winemaking future.

Book launch

Mr Puglisi’s remarkable vinicultural legacy has been be celebrated with a book launch, The Father of the Queensland Wine Industry – Angelo Puglisi, by Tom McSweeny. The biography will be launched on Friday 2 November 2018 at the Stanthorpe Art Gallery at 6pm.

In a nation where most producers pulled up their vines in the late eighties at government behest, this is a remarkable achievement, and testament to the vision of Angelo and Mary Puglisi, pioneers of the wine industry in Queensland.

A Granite Belt jewel

“Our cool climate Shiraz is a vinicultural jewel. Most Shiraz vines in Australia are under 15 years old—and the older the vines, the lower the yield and more luscious the fruit,” said Angelo Puglisi.

“I am excited to announce the pre-release of our 50th Anniversary 2018 Opera Block Shiraz at our vineyard party on November 10. 2018 was an exceptionally low-yielding year—we have produced only 150 dozen of the Opera Block Shiraz for this vintage. The long ripening season and cold nights have delivered a delicate cool climate Shiraz, intense purple with concentrated berry fruits. We will be bottling this beauty in 2019.”

Angelo’s decision to convert from table grapes to wine grapes was brave and he and Mary worked hard to produce wines of quality and create a market for their Granite Belt grown wines. Those first vines have been lovingly nurtured over the years and now produce the award-winning Opera Block Shiraz—refined, elegant with intense fruit typical of a cool climate profile.

Wine pioneers

 “Mum and Dad were real pioneers, and they dreamed of a Queensland wine industry at such a young age, at just 25 (Angelo) and 19 years (Mary) of age. . Up until the Puglisi’s 1968 Shiraz planting, wine in Queensland was mainly a by-product of table grape production by a few European families who were selling the grapes to market and using the leftovers to make wine. A far cry from the wine grapes of today!

“Visionaries from the start, the Puglisis visualised opening a cellar door and being the catalyst for Queensland’s Barossa and Hunter Valley on the Granite Belt. They knew that wine tourism would follow once there was wine to sell and some more cellar doors in the region. When they opened the cellar door four years after planting the Shiraz, there were only 300 wineries in Australia—now there is over 3300!

“We have been here a long time, since 1932. The 50 years of Shiraz gives legitimacy to the entire Queensland wine industry.  I always say that Mum married the Queensland wine industry when she married Dad.  Not only are we celebrating 50 years of Shiraz, the Puglisis are celebrating a golden wedding anniversary too, 50 years strong!” says Robyn Puglisi-Henderson, daughter of Angelo and Mary Puglisi.

Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi of Ballandean Estate on the Granite Belt was elected to the Winemaker’s Federation (WFA) board of 12 at an historically significant annual general meeting on 13 November 2018. Ms Puglisi-Gangemi is the second Queensland board member to be elected since WFA’s 1999 inauguration and the first Queensland female board member to be elected.

“I am thrilled to be elected to a platform where I can continue to improve the business and regulatory environment for Australian winemakers and grape growers. Educating national and international consumers about the quality of Queensland wines has driven my advocacy.

“Queensland now has over 1500 hectares of vines and a new generation of talented people guiding production in Queensland. We are just so lucky to have David Littleproud, Federal Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources lobbying on behalf of the wine industry. As a long-term Warwick resident, the Minister has an acute understanding of the important role agriculture and small business plays in creating jobs and promoting economic growth across rural, regional and remote Australia,” says Ms Gangemi-Puglisi.

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