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Vintage blend heads for US

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Vintage blend heads for US
By Des Houghton
5th June 2007

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GOLD Coast property tycoon Craig Gore yesterday emerged as Queensland's biggest wine exporter after an audacious deal to flood 22 American states with 1.5 million bottles.

By September, Gore's Aussie Vineyards will have shipped 122,025 cartons of wine to the US, surpassing annual records set by his friend Terry Morris, owner of Sirromet wines. Gore has already sent 75,432 cases of wine to the US where it will be sold in 5000 outlets from Oregon to California and Florida. Not all the wine, however, is from Gore's two Queensland vineyards.

His winemaker, John Heslop, said the export orders were boosted with wine bought from the Barossa, Coonawarra and Limestone Coast regions of South Australia. Aussie Vineyards owns Henty Estate vineyard at Ballandean on the Granite Belt. It has a second smaller vineyard and cellar door at Mt Tamborine in the Gold Coast hinterland and has plans to develop a restaurant and function centre there. Both Morris and Gore, who share an interest in V8 Supercars, last week appeared on the BRW Rich List.

Gore's fortune was assessed at $180 million behind Morris on $190 million.

"Queensland Wines are as good as any region in the country and are starting to win major awards throughout the world," Gore said.

Heslop, who owns and operates Witches Falls winery at Mt Tamborine, makes wine for Aussie Vineyards on contract.

He said Americans will be drinking a full range of reds and whites including shiraz, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, verdelho and chardonnay. "We are already in 11 US states and have orders for 11 more," he said.

The wine is sold under the company's Au label for around $US10 ($A12) a bottle.