10:33 Stu.
Verdelho is of Portuguese origin, closely associated with the island of Madeira where it also lends its name to a style of wine. Madeira and Australia are about the only places it's made in any notable volume. One explanation for its popularity in Australia is its suitability for pairing with a range of Asian and Asian influenced foods.
That doesn't quite explain why it has a history dating back to the early 18th century when the first record of its importation, by the Australian Agricultural Company, is known.
Growth is quite recent with crush figures of 1,366 tonnes in 1990 increasing to 14,000 tonnes in 2010 [source: ABS], that said this is down from 26,000 tonnes in 2004.
Verdelho seems to excel in the Hunter Valley, where warm conditions and careful handling can produce lean and minerally wines, with yields kept low and made in a dry style.
This author's namesake, the much more qualified Jancis MW snobbishly (IMO) writes of it: "it is a tradesman like variety, liking warmth, yielding well but not prodigiously, and producing a wine which epitomises its working-class background".
This example shows varietal tropical fruit aromas of guava and passionfruit, with some lighter honeysuckle present too.
Easy drinking, in the mouth there's an initial fullness of expression, but the progression is then to a linear wine with good acid framed by some light mineral and tangy citrus. All up, for $15 pretty well done.
Source: Sample
Price: $15
Alcohol: 13.2%
Closure: Screwcap
[This page was edited at 18:00 on 26/09/2011 as the vintage was 2011]
Hunter Valley standard, though certainly playing second fiddle (at least) to regional standard Semillon. Carries the familiar glace pineapple with a touch of ginger and mace spice lines. 
Verdelho has a reputation as somewhat of a workhorse like variety, offering up a veritable fruit salad of aromas and flavours - this example from the Langhorne legends Bremerton no exception.
Overflowing with the fruit salad aromatics that Verdelho is renowned for: the full range of tropical fruit spectrum, calling out some candied pineapple for special mention.
A little dried grass, peach skin.
Tim Coelli of Twisted Gum was savvy enough to send a few samples of his wines out for review ahead of Queensland Wine Week (disclosure: I am a part of the organisational team behind QWW). 
Brisbane wine tasting group Swirl Sniff Spit (disclosure: in case you aren't aware, I am one part of the duo that facilitates the Swirl Sniff Spit tastings) was joined by Queensland Winemaker Andy Williams to taste through some Queensland wines from the recent Australian Small Winemakers Show, where Andy was Chairman of Judges.
Take 3 grape varieties that originally hail from three different countries spanning across Southern Europe, add them to McLaren Vale, bring in a drop of Chapel Hill know-how and you get one fresh, fruity and floral little beauty that I'm sure you could quite happily do some damage to on a hot Summer's day.
