About

Volary is a Queensland wine publication for curious drinkers who want to find something worth seeking out. It covers the wines, producers and places across the state that don't make the national radar.

Most people don't realise Queensland makes wine at all, let alone wine worth seeking out. The usual brush-off is that it is too hot, but that ignores so many factors like altitude. The Granite Belt is just one example, sitting around 800 metres and ranking among the highest wine regions in Australia.

The name is the whole idea in one word. A volary is an enclosure where birds fly freely. Queensland's growers experiment, planting a wider range of varieties than you tend to find in the established regions. Volary is the enclosure where those rare birds are gathered and given room to be noticed.

Who's behind it

I've always been curious about how the world works and why a landscape looks the way it does, a fascination with history and geology that goes back to high school. Through this curiosity and my travels, I realised wine sits right at the intersection of both: it takes what is hidden in the soil and the culture built around it, and gives you a view into a specific moment in time.

For a long time, I was oblivious to what was happening in my own state. Before I moved to Europe, and later Canberra, Queensland wine wasn't on my radar. I knew it existed, but I saw it mostly as a tourist trap or a backdrop for weekend events.

While living down south, with premium wine regions close by, I had a great opportunity to learn more. I completed my WSET Level 2 and started spending my weekends running tastings at the Gundog Estate cellar door.

When I moved back home, I wanted to apply that same curiosity to my own regions, which led to a trip to Stanthorpe to see what was actually on my doorstep. That trip opened my eyes to the quality of wine being produced in the state. Queensland has remarkable geological diversity, and seeing how those different pockets of land affect what ends up in the glass brings the history of the landscape to life for me.

Our wine regions are dominated by small, independent producers. Having the opportunity to share their stories and support them directly is a core part of why I started this.

I am not an expert on Queensland wine. Volary is an ongoing exploration. I am still figuring out how these different regions tick, but my time working at a cellar door keeps my approach grounded. Wine shouldn't be wrapped up in pretension or exclusive jargon. When you strip all of that away, everything comes down to one basic question: Do I like this wine?

I started Volary to document this journey as I go, unpacking our complex soils and meeting the people pushing boundaries along the way.

What you can count on

I am in Queensland's corner as a region, not in any single bottle's corner. Taking a wine seriously means being honest about it rather than celebrating everything that gets poured. Every wine is judged on the same terrain-led terms, across four tiers: Grounded, Solid, Striking and Exceptional. Wines that do not reach Grounded are not written about, because the job is to point you to what is worth drinking.

The rating scale is the contract: the same standard every time, so you learn what the tiers mean. Some wines I buy, and some are sent to me for review. Either way, I tell you which on every piece, and a free bottle never buys a better write-up. Where a winery puts hospitality in front of me, I will take it and tell you it happened, and the verdict is always mine. The schedule is loose by design. I would rather publish when there is something worth publishing than fill a slot for the sake of it.

Keeping up

If you are new and want a reading order, that is what Start Here is for.

New pieces go out to subscribers first. Pull one up when you are choosing a bottle for dinner, or just want an interesting read. Subscribe to get each edition as it goes out, or start reading and see what is worth seeking out.