A GROUP of Childers winemakers is using its small-scale production capacity to its advantage.
The Childers Wine Experience, launched in the second half of 2009, could quite possibly be one of Australia's smallest wine trails, covering just four wineries.
But that's exactly the way they like it.
The trail takes in Vintners Secret, Brierley Wines, Isis Winery and Hill Of Promise wineries.
Linking the four is a combination of a glossy brochure featuring each of the wineries and a map, plus tourism signage on all sides of the town.
With each offering something slightly different to the other, the four wineries are working together to promote each other.
The benefit of having just four wineries is that visitors are capable of covering all of them in one or two days, getting a full appreciation for the area's production, unlike larger wine-producing areas where tourists have numerous vineyards to choose from.
Sue and Tony Brierley of Brierley Wines were some of the brains behind the concept. They were the first in the Childers area to grow commercial wine grapes.
Sue said it's all about capturing the tourists' time while they are in the area.
"People coming all the way to Childers, usually they'll drive from Bundaberg or Hervey Bay or Maryborough - they'll do more than one thing here," she said.
In recent years, Australia has experienced a wine glut. Sue said there is a difference, however, between the large-scale commercially produced wines, and those sipped and sampled in the pleasant surrounds of a winery.
"You have to educate people that boutique wine is different to bottleshop wine," she said. "Even down to putting the cork in, it's all done by hand."
Although they have been on the property for 20 years, a love of wine led them to investigate producing their own.
After considerable research, they established their vineyard in 1998 with Chambourcin (pronounced: 'shom-bare-san') grapes, a French variety suited to the sandy loam soils and climate.
Their first vintage came off in 2003. Their expertise continued to develop and they now produce four different red wines from their 2ha (5ac) of vines.
Down the track the Brierleys would like to expand to a white version of the Chambourcin, but that will most likely involve importing stock from Germany.
"Five acres is quite enough to keep us going," Sue said.
The vines are trickle irrigated from a large capacity storage dam.
Initially the entire vineyard was set to a computerised irrigation system, complete with remote access; however, a lightning strike put the system out of action.
Like each of the wineries in the area, the product itself forms the basis of a value-added marketing and tourism strategy. Each has tastings available, along with caf?-style food, all nestled within the cane fields and cattle country.
Being a considerable distance from any of the major wine belts gives Childers a pest advantage. In fact, Brierley Wines does not use chemicals at all, making it all but certified organic.
For animal pests, Sue and Tony have developed the unusual plan whereby they purposefully only harvest half the crop, and allow the birds to have the other half.
The harvest schedule is enough to keep their production up. The Brierleys have added to their tourism appeal through the introduction of live music at the vineyard.
Local musicians provide entertainment on special days such as Mothers' Day, which Sue said provides an extra incentive for visitors to make the trip.
Although vineyard management and wine production are enough to keep most small operators busy, the cafe operation, including gourmet pizzas and Mexican cuisine, provides little rest time.
"I enjoy that side of it. I look after the vineyards at the moment, too, but I always prefer to do the marketing and the sales," Sue said.
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