Seek out the best Mornington Peninsula wines
Out wine tours available from Melbourne are a full day tasting some great Mornington Peninsula wines alongside Arthur O’Bryan who has the depth of knowledge to guide you to the best cellar doors and wines in the region. The Mornington Peninsula is home to some of the finest cool climate wines in Australia, over the years, a handful of wineries have significantly improved the region’s standing, propelling individual wines toward super stardom and lifting the Mornington Peninsula to the top of the Australian wine world.
The iconic Yabby Lake Block 1 Pinot Noir
Wines to look for on tour:
Yabby Lake Block One Pinot Noir
The 2012 Yabby Lake Block One Pinot Noir won the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the 2013 Melbourne International Wine Show. It was the first Pinot Noir to win the award, ending the reign of big-bodied reds that dominated since 1962. Winemaker, Tom Carson, already highly-regarded in the Yarra Valley, arrived on the Peninsula with ambitions to make single block wines that speak of their terroir. The Jimmy Watson ultimately confirmed the elegant perfumed richness of the Block 1 Tuerong Pinot Noir, a wine that seduced the most skilled wine tasters.
Twice International Wine Trophy winner
2. Stonier Reserve Chardonnay
The London International Wine Challenge is the biggest and most prestigious wine show in the world where all significant wine producing nations are on exhibition. Made by locally born and Californian-trained winemaker, Tod Dexter, the 1999 Stonier Reserve Chardonnay won the Best Chardonnay trophy in London before going on to win the Best White Wine trophy; out-shining 1200 wines from 25 countries for the honour. The Mornington Peninsula’s emergence as a significant cool climate region making brilliant Chardonnay was significantly enhanced by these trophies .
3. Paring Estate The Paringa Pinot Noir
In 2007 James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion announced the inaugural Australian Winery of the Year Award winner- the ever consistent, Paringa Estate. Here, Winemaker Lindsay McCall and his team have been the recipients of dozens of top honours, equal to any winery in Australia. The son of a dairy farmer, Lindsay is a hard-working perfectionist overseeing one of the oldest family-run wineries on the Peninsula. Amongst his many achievements, the “Paringa” Pinot Noir has dominated tastings for decades winning trophies and many accolades along the way.
4. Main Ridge Estate Half Acre Pinot Noir
In 2014 and again in 2018, the Main Ridge Estate ‘Half Acre’ Pinot Noir was recognised by Langton’s Classification panel of top Australian wines as “Outstanding”. This was a significant award for the proprietors, the Sexton family and the Mornington Peninsula wine community as Main Ridge Estate is one of the coolest micro sites in the region growing some of the oldest Pinot Noir vines in a bucolic hillside in Main Ridge. Also in the “Outstanding” category are many iconic Australian producers including Bindi, Mount Mary, Henschke, Penfolds, By Farr, Leeuwin Estate, and Jasper Hill.
The best Vineyards face east rolling down the rich volcanic soils of Red Hill
5. Quealy Pinot Gris
In 2003, the creative genius and hard work of Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy paid off when they sold their winery, T’Gallant Winemakers to the international wine and beer behemoth, Beringer Blass/Southcorp. This sale was equally based on the uniqueness of their Main Ridge winery/restaurant business and the pioneering spirit that established Mornington Peninsula Pinot Gris in the Australian wine market. The Quealy-McCarthy team soon moved to Balnarring establishing Quealy Winemakers and planting a mix of grape varieties they love, in a place they love, to ensure organic wines with great diversity in wine styles. Pinot Gris will forever be their signature wine.
6. Ocean Eight Verve Chardonnay
Mike Aylward put the cat amongst the pigeons with his early interpretations of Mornington Peninsula Chardonnay and the Ocean Eight Verve was a full-blown mouthful of tightly woven citrus flavours, jarring acidity and a bone dry finish. Mike won the 2011 Young Gun of Wine Award with his uncompromising style and eventually this style of tight-fisted Chardonnay led the region away from wines with tropical fruit, oak and big buttery flavours. Today, Mike’s wines have toned down but the Pinot Gris and Chardonnay remain austere and regional favourites.
7. Stonier Windmill Pinot Noir
Whole-bunch fermentation is trending in modern Pinot Noir winemaking and the regional pioneer of this technique is Geraldine McFaul. After returning from Burgundy in 2002, Geraldine set about emulating great wine styles using whole-bunch fruit in her 2003 Stonier Windmill Pinot Noir. The 2003 vintage was outstanding and so the Stonier Reserve wine also received some whole-bunch magic. This Reserve wine sold 600 dozen in eleven days after a sell-out Stonier International Pinot Noir tasting pinned it as the best Pinot on the night. Now at Willow Creek, Geraldine includes whole bunches exclusively in the O’Leary Block Pinot Noir.
8. Moorooduc Estate McIntyre Pinot Noir
In Rock n Roll, fame doesn’t get much bigger that the cover of the rock bible, Rolling Stone magazine. In 2015, the Moorooduc McIntyre Pinot Noir landed the wine equivalent, the cover of the UK wine bible, Decanter. Six years later, Moorooduc was on the Decanter cover again, the Pinot Noir appearing alongside other international producers, giving the entire region a serious boost in the process.
9. Allies Tuerong Vineyard Pinot Noir
David Chapman and Barney Flanders started Allies after careers in hospitality led them to working at a winery and making Allies Wines as a side-project. Early vintages were miniscule but the pursuit of excellence saw their wine adjudged amongst the region’s best. Flanders subsequently branched off to start his own label, Garagiste leaving Chapman to run Allies. The quality of the early Allies wines made an emphatic statement for virtual winemaking in a region chock-full of owner/producers and today a small band of intrepid virtual winemakers continue to source fruit from growers’ vineyards making small batches of wine.
Vines across the region are covered in nets to protect fruit from exotic birds. in summer the entire region resembles a ghost town with gently swaying white nets in the ocean breeze
10. Elgee Park Rhine Riesling
Elgee Park produced its first commercial vintage in 1975 for which the Myer family merit the cliche pioneers of the peninsula. The first wine was made by Ian Hickinbotham assisted by his brilliant son, Stephen one of the most talented winemakers of his generation. The 1975 Riesling would have been harvested to match the popular aromatic and more fruitier German Rhine Riesling style of the day. Up in Main Ridge and Red Hill, other producers weren’t far behind and over the ensuing decade, a small band of dedicated winemakers established cool climate vineyards nearby. In 2022 Elgee Park vineyard turns 50, another reason to celebrate.
11. Moorooduc Estate Chardonnay
A legend amongst cool climate winemakers, Rick McIntyre continues to make distinctive wines including one of the richest and most complex chardonnays in the region. The 1997 Moorooduc Estate Chardonnay was the first to feature wild yeast fermentation and over two decades this wine became a regional benchmark for its sumptuous flavour and structure. At the time, Rick believed wild yeast added more complexity to his wines and today the majority of Peninsula winemakers agree and hence use wild yeast in their ferments; a tribute to Rick’s daring and deep thinking.
