With proud Sicilian roots, it is no wonder Ray Costanzo is a champion winemaker, and now the Queensland maestro of alternative variety of wines.

He hails from a very drinkable address on 337 Sundown Road, deep in Strange Bird wine country – that is, in the rural hamlet of Ballandean, a good 10 kilometres south of the granite town of Stanthorpe.

To visit Ray’s cantina (winery), you need to stump up to a glass of white vermentino (origins north-west of Sicily in Sardinia) or red nero d’avola, the hero red grape of the hot lands of southern Sicily, the Costanzos’ homeland.

To read more about Golden Grove Estate’s Ray Costanzo … Read article here.

By Peter-Scudamore-Smith, Master of Wine
Published in Queensland Country Life, Jun-Jul 2014