It’s tempting to think of everything in Australia as being larger than life. Certainly, many things are. It’s a country of big skies, vast landscapes, and big personalities. But there are also a lot of small-scale wonders in the country, and one of the most interesting from a wine point of view is a tiny spit of land on the country’s southern coast that sticks out into the Bass Strait.

About an hour from downtown Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula is 25 miles (40km) long and 12 miles (20km) wide, making it only slightly larger than the Napa Valley. It became a peninsula around 12 million years ago, when post-glacial flooding carved out the bays on either side, leaving a ridge of ancient land rising to bout 310 meters of elevation in between. The backbone of this spit of land is 350-million-year-old granite, but far more visible (and important to local viticulture) are the layers of weathered basalt that were laid over the core of bedrock roughly 25 million years ago, and have been gradually weathering into the clays and sandy soils that support the region’s agriculture.

In the early days of European settlement, the Mornington Peninsula was home to apple orchards, livestock, and little else. Eventually, crops expanded into berries and olives. In the late 1800s, a small wine boom occurred in the region, with more than a dozen producers at its height, but the industry petered out in the 1920s as it couldn’t get grapes ripe enough to support the interest in primarily fortified wines during generally challenging economic times, when government incentives to grow wool grew far more lucrative.

Wool was eventually replaced with apples, and the peninsula even earned a reputation for growing exceptionally high-quality apples. However, given its small size and the varied terrain, the small orchards of the region, though superior, couldn’t compete with massive plantings elsewhere and were ripe for the picking, so to speak, as the next wave of winegrowing pioneers came sniffing about for potential vineyard sites.

Interest in viticulture picked back up in the early 1970s, but that was a time before Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were trendy, so a lot of early plantings were made in Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, which didn’t fare very well. Things really took off in the early 1980s as pioneers such as Moorooduc Estate and Paringa Estate demonstrated the potential of the region to make cool-climate wines of distinction with Burgundy varieties in particular. The region was officially recognized as a Geographical Indication in 1997. 

Today, the peninsula hosts more than 1200 hectares (3000 acres) of vines spread across perhaps 200 winegrowers and roughly 60 wineries.  Pinot Noir dominates with more than half the plantings; the remainder consists of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio, with a smidgen of Shiraz.

To say that the region has a maritime climate would be to dramatically understate the case. Surrounded on all three sides by water, no vineyard in the region is more than 7km (4.3 miles) from the ocean. There are few places where you can’t smell the sea if you pay close enough attention. Breezes off the water (as local winemakers are wont to point out—straight from Antarctica) are a near constant, making for fairly chilly conditions all around, though the rocky spine and rolling landscape of the peninsula create leeward, sheltered pockets that can warm up a bit more.

Jewel-box Quality

The Mornington Peninsula’s compact size (not to mention proximity to Melbourne) makes it a wonderfully comfortable bit of wine country to explore, even with just a day to spare. Dotted with stands of old eucalyptus and Monterey cypress that separate rolling green hills and native scrubland, the landscape is nothing short of idyllic. Country lanes wind round hills and small valleys, sometimes opening up to vistas of the beach towns and wide expanses of sun-drenched (or more often cloud-encrusted) sea.

Most producers on the peninsula are small, family-run affairs, and many have excellent hospitality offerings, including a few spectacular restaurant offerings. A number have guestrooms for those who don’t want to make just a day trip from Melbourne, though the seaside towns of Sorrento or Flinders have cute hotels, good restaurants, and stroll-worthy streets that make them excellent bases for exploring the region.

The wines of the Mornington Peninsula are generally quite impressive. Before the visit that inspired this article, I had the opportunity to taste an occasional Chardonnay from the region, and knew that it was capable of producing excellent versions of that grape. I was completely unprepared, however, for the quality of the region’s Pinot Noirs, which far exceeded my expectations and still linger in my memory, many months later.

Unusually, the young Pinots of the region often have a striking cardinal-ruby red hue quite different from the more typical garnet color I generally expect from Pinot Noir. The best of these wines have an ethereal grace to them, combining floral, berry, and mineral qualities that positively dazzle with their natural acidity and energy. There are a few absolutely stunning Pinot Noirs to be had that hold their own amongst the great examples of the grape from around the world. Generally lower in alcohol and brimming with natural acidity, the region’s best Pinots will make any true Pinotphile swoon.

Having said that, I do tend to agree with some locals who say that Chardonnay is where the Mornington really shines. But if the quality of Chardonnay from the peninsula exceeds that of its Pinot Noirs, I think that is only by a small margin. I haven’t tasted wines from the region regularly enough to tell you how the two grapes are jockeying for position, but if I had to bet, I’d say Pinot Noir is catching up quickly and it may soon be difficult to say which has the upper hand.

Mornington Chardonnay, when made well, has a breathtaking saline acidity that makes for a mouthwatering experience. Citrus-driven flavors are often backed by deep stony minerality and accented with lovely floral top notes that give the wines perfume and dimension. It’s not uncommon to find a hint of reduction in these wines, something that makes them instantly appealing to some lovers of white Burgundy. These struck-flint or struck-match notes are married to substantial enough fruit flavors and palate-weight to make for wonderfully balanced wines that have the potential to age extremely well. Of course, when they’re so delicious in their youth, it can be hard to leave them alone for a few years.

If you consider yourself a Chardonnay lover, you owe it to yourself to explore the what the region is capable of when it comes to this grape.

Lastly, I can’t avoid talking about the region’s Shiraz. There isn’t much of it to go around, as producers have rightly prioritized the Burgundian varieties that seem so well suited for this cool little pocket of Victoria. But those dedicated winegrowers who persist in making Shiraz, and making it well, are rewarded with wines that taste unlike any other Australian Shiraz. Forget what you know of Barossa or Hunter Valley or McLaren Vale Shiraz. These medium-bodied, sea-inflected, savory-floral wines are an easy reminder that generalizations (and certainly not prejudices) should never be made about wine purely on the basis of grape variety.

Given its small size, the Mornington Peninsula is often overlooked in discussions of Australian wine, even by the nearby city-dwellers of Melbourne. So many of Australia’s wine regions loom larger both in actual size and in mindshare amongst consumers. But this region deserves serious attention from lovers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and from anyone who is interested in the diversity of Australian wine, which far exceeds the conception of even the most experienced wine lovers.

Profiles and tasting notes from a number of producers follow—the result of a visit I made courtesy of Wine Victoria late last year, my first to the region, but I very much hope not my last. Mornington is a little slice of wine-country paradise to which I will return with relish.

Moorooduc Estate

In the early 1980s, a wine-loving surgeon and his wife purchased an empty bit of land on the Mornington Peninsula with the idea of planting a vineyard. Already scientifically inclined, Dr. Richard McIntyre taught himself what he needed to know about viticulture and set about planting a vineyard in 1983, while he and his wife Jill also began construction on a rammed-earth building that would be their home and their winery. More than 40 years later, it still is. The couple’s daughter Kate McIntyre is a Master of Wine and runs the business day-to-day along with General Manager and Winemaker Jeremy Magyar, though her mother continues to play a role in the small estate’s hospitality.

Moorooduc Estate occupies one of the warmest spots on the peninsula, sheltered from the stormy, cold weather that blows in across the sea from the southeast across the Bass Strait by the high point of the peninsula, Red Hill. The estate’s regeneratively-farmed McIntyre Vineyard hosts 12 acres of vines (mostly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with a little Shiraz and Nebbiolo), and they additionally source fruit from four other nearby vineyards.

Winemaking involves ambient yeasts, natural malolactic fermentation, minimal racking, and modest use of sulfur dioxide. The whites are whole-cluster pressed and barrel fermented; the reds are destemmed but not crushed, and fermented in 2-ton open-top bins. Aging is generous and utilizes admirably low levels of new wood. Overall, the estate produces around 10,000 cases in an average year.

The estate’s sandy, iron-rich soils produce a wonderful level of finesse in the wines, and the low-intervention winemaking and low amounts of new oak allow these wines to show their place of origin with impressive transparency—they’re as delicious as they are charming.

2023 Moorooduc “Estate” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of white flowers and stone fruit. In the mouth, bright lemon peel and lemon oil flavors mix with nectarine and a touch of golden apple. Zippy and mouthwatering. Nicely balanced and textured. A blend of all the vineyards. Aged for 9-10 months in 10-20% new French oak. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $34. click to buy.

2022 Moorooduc “Robinson Vineyard” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of white flowers, lemon oil, and a hint of something resinous. In the mouth, gorgeous saline lemon peel and lemon pith flavors have a wonderful briny brightness, great balance, and length. A long, mouthwatering and ultimately outstanding wine from a low-yielding, cool year. 13.5% alcohol. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $42. click to buy.

2022 Moorooduc Pinot Gris, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of pear, pear skin, and white flowers. In the mouth, pear and pear skin flavors mix with a touch of grapefruit and citrus peel. Bright and juicy thanks to excellent acidity. Whole cluster pressed and fermented in all neutral oak. There’s just a little bit of warmth on the finish. 14% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $35

2023 Moorooduc “On The Skins” Pinot Gris Rosé, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale ruby in the glass with orange highlights, this wine smells of orange peels, herbs, and a hint of berries. In the mouth, orange peel, dried herbs, and Angostura bitters mix with berry and stone fruit flavors. A faint and pleasant herbal bitterness emerges on the finish. Fully fermented on the skins for 20 days. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $30. click to buy.

2021 Moorooduc “Estate” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light ruby in the glass, this wine smells of bright cherry and cranberry fruit. In the mouth, bright cherry and cranberry fruit flavors have a crystalline and almost candied quality to their purity. There’s a faint salinity and lovely bright acidity to the wine, while faint herbs and citrus peel linger with candied redcurrant in the finish. Barely perceptible tannins. Lovely. Spends about 10 months in 20% new French oak. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $38. click to buy.

2022 Moorooduc “The Moorooduc – McIntyre Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light ruby in color, this wine smells of floral, stony aromas of candied sour cherry and raspberries. In the mouth, gorgeously silky flavors of sour cherry, raspberry, and redcurrant have an incredible purity and crystalline quality. Faint, powdery, barely perceptible tannins and outstanding acidity. A gorgeous wine. Spends about 10 months in 20% new French oak. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $80. click to buy.

2018 Moorooduc “Garden Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light ruby in the glass with some garnet highlights, this wine smells of chopped green herbs, bright cherry, and raspberry fruit. In the mouth, gorgeous, bright raspberry pastilles and candied sour cherry fruit have a faint salinity and fantastic acidity. The tannins coat the mouth and flex their athletic muscles ever-so-slowly. Mouthwatering and delicious. 100% whole bunch fermentation. Spends about 10 months in 20% new French oak. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $70.

2020 Moorooduc “The Moorooduc – McIntyre Vineyard” Shiraz, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of flowering, resinous herbs, including lavender. In the mouth, salty blackberry and herbs mix with a touch of olive brine and powdered stone. Lovely chalky tannins coat the mouth, and fresh green herbal notes linger in the finish. Mouthwatering and gorgeously savory. From a cool low-yielding year. 100% whole-cluster fermentation and then aged in neutral oak. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $65. click to buy.

Yabby Lake

Yabbies are the Australian name for crayfish, and the pond on the property that Rob and Mem Kirby purchased in the late 1990s was full of them. Their kids would spend hours catching them while the couple and their viticulturalist Keith Harris put in the first vineyards on what has become one of the iconic estates of the Mornington Peninsula.

Tom Carson serves as the estate’s general manager and lead winemaker, working with Luke Lomax, the day-to-day winemaker who has been with the estate for 20 years. Lomax, a local, started picking fruit at the estate while still in high school.

Yabby Lake‘s roughly 100 acres of vineyards are own-rooted and mostly Pinot Noir (65%) and Chardonnay (25%) planted across 32 separate blocks. Each of those blocks is harvested, fermented, and aged separately. By default, most of the blocks are blended to create the estate’s primary wines. Increasingly, as individual blocks stand out in a given vintage, they are elevated to bottling on their own as numbered block wines, often with a little more whole cluster fermentation for the reds.

The Yabby Lake wines are consistently high quality, and the occasional bottle of sparkling wine they make is usually excellent, if you can get your hands on it.

2019 Yabby Lake “Cuvée Nina – Single Vineyard” Sparkling wine, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale gold with very fine bubbles, this wine smells of sea air, unripe apples, and lemon pith. In the mouth, the wine has an intense acidic brightness with lean lemon peel and lemon pith flavors borne on a silky mousse. Hints of berries and orange peel linger in the finish. Bright, juicy, and nicely balanced. A blend of 45% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, plus a 15% volume of reserve wines that are equally split between Chardonnay and Pinot. Spends 4 years on the lees before disgorging. 4 g/l dosage. 12.5% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $45.

2024 Yabby Lake “Single Vineyard” Pinot Gris, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale to light blonde in color, this wine smells of pastry cream and poached pears. In the mouth, pear and grapefruit flavors mix with wet chalkboard and some nice stony notes. Warm dry herbs mix with pear skin and grapefruit in the finish. Decent acidity. Half the wine is tank fermented and half is fermented in old puncheons, and then blended. The assembled wine is further aged in barrel for 5 additional months before bottling. 13% alcohol. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $30.

2023 Yabby Lake “Single Vineyard” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon curd and white flowers. In the mouth, tangy lemon curd and orange peel mix with a touch of butterscotch and lemon oil. Faintly saline with silky texture. Very good acidity and length. Only 20% of the wine went through malolactic conversion, which is unusual for this producer. 13.5% alcohol. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $50.

2023 Yabby Lake “Single Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium garnet in color, this wine smells of cherry and cranberry with a hint of brown sugar. In the mouth, bright cherry and cranberry fruit have a juicy zip thanks to excellent acidity. Faint gauzy tannins hang in the background. There’s a touch of green herbs, earth, and green wood lingering in the finish. 15% whole cluster fermented. Ages for 11 months in 20% new oak on gross lees. 13.5% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $60.

2015 Yabby Lake “Block 6” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium ruby in color with some garnet highlights, this wine smells of candied red apples, dried herbs, and cherries. In the mouth, faintly salty and meaty flavors of cherry and candied raspberries have a silky texture and gorgeous powdery tannic texture. Notes of orange peel and aromatic herbs linger in the finish. 25% whole-cluster fermentation, aged for 11 months in 20% new French oak. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $150.

Polperro / Even Keel

Sam Coverdale knew he wanted to be a winemaker before he graduated from high school. “I wanted to do something that was a balance of science, art, marketing, and agriculture,’ he says. “Wine touches it all.”

While he was in college getting degrees in business economics and history, he was working at Tyrrell’s Winery in the Hunter Valley. After university he got a job with Hardy’s that sent him all over the world. Once Hardy’s was purchased by Constellation, he jumped ship and went to Europe, eventually working in the Roussillon and in Piedmont. He returned to New South Wales in 2006 and started his Even Keel label, buying fruit from the
Tumbarumba, Canberra, and Orange wine regions. In 2008, he moved to the Mornington Peninsula and planted a vineyard.

“At the time, Foster’s was breaking their contracts and so I was able to whip around and pick up three or four established vineyards,” he says. With access to that fruit, he started his Mornington label, Polperro. Coverdale now farms more than 50 hectares across the peninsula.

“I don’t want to lead with style,” says Coverdale. “The year and the vineyard dictate the wine. That said, I do tend to seek out sites that are more in that ethereal, heaps of natural acidity, structured, perfumed zone.”

The Polperro vineyards have been certified organic and biodynamic since 2019, and Coverdale farms with a mix of regenerative practices, which he says get him better flavors and more developed tannins and lower alcohols. The winemaking is low-intervention, with ambient yeast fermentations, large-format used oak, a mix of full and partial malolactic fermentations for the whites, and no fining or filtration.

Coverdale’s wines, especially those under his Polperro label, are very much of the moment —bright, lean, crunchy, aromatic, and exciting. He believes that Chardonnay is the best grape on the Mornington Peninsula, but his Pinots are just as impressive as his whites.

2023 Even Keel Pinot Gris, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of pear and pear skin with a hint of white flowers. In the mouth, faintly salty notes of Asian pear and flowers mix with a hint of citrus pith. A touch of green apple lingers in the finish. Whole cluster pressed, barrel fermented with native yeasts, and only a small amount of the wine went through malolactic conversion. Aged for 6 months in old oak. 12.5% alcohol. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $30.

2023 Polperro “Estate” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon pith and pink grapefruit with a hint of unripe apples. In the mouth, electric acidity makes flavors of lemon pith, pink grapefruit, pomelo, and wet chalkboard mouthwatering and zingy. There’s a faint salinity and nice chalky texture, with a very long finish. A blend of 4 vineyards and six different clones picked over the course of 3-4 weeks. Whole cluster pressed into second use and older oak, where it ferments with ambient yeasts. Two-thirds of the wine was allowed to go through malolactic conversion. Ages for 10 months in barrel. 12.6% alcohol. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $60.

2022 Polperro “Mill Hill Vineyard” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of unripe apples, lemon oil, and white flowers. In the mouth, lemon peel and grapefruit mix with a hint of barely ripe nectarine, as salty, stony notes accompany excellent acidity. A chalky texture in the mouth is followed by lovely floral notes in the finish. Made from the highest-elevation vineyard in the region. Aged in 20% new oak. 13% alcohol. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $75.

2024 Even Keel Rosé, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale baby pink in color, this wine smells of sweet berries and cream with a hint of citrus peel. In the mouth, aromatically sweet flavors of strawberry, watermelon, sour cherries, and citrus peel have a silky texture but excellent, bright, juicy acidity. Lean and sexy with a chalky note in the finish. A cofermentation of Zwiegelt, Trousseau, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Shiraz, Viognier, and a tiny bit of saignée Grenache from elsewhere. Pressed into large-format old oak for fermentation with ambient yeasts. Ages for 3-4 months. 13% alcohol. Score: around 9. Cost: $??

2023 Polperro Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium hazy ruby in the glass, this wine smells of raspberries, cherries, red miso, and a hint of candied red apple. In the mouth, incredibly juicy raspberry and redcurrant flavors mix with candied red apple, dried herbs, and a touch of dried citrus peel. Faint powdery tannins hang gauzily in the background. Hints of faintly bitter herbs and spice linger in the finish. A blend of 6 vineyards and 8 clones of Pinot Noir picked over several weeks. The grapes are vinified separately with as many whole berries as possible in 2-ton steel fermenters with ambient yeasts, then pressed off and sent to barrel with full solids. The wine is blended in stainless steel, and then added back to barrels with fine lees for another 6 months for a total of 10-12 months aging. 13.2% alcohol. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $65. click to buy.

2022 Polperro “Mill Hill Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light garnet in the glass, this wine smells of incredibly floral, candied redcurrant and raspberry pastilles. In the mouth, silky textured flavors of raspberry pastilles, redcurrant, and candied sour cherries mix with gauzy, powdery tannins and a gorgeous stony underbelly. Notes of lightly bitter herbs emerge in the finish along with a hint of salinity. Long, graceful, and elegant, but with some strength underneath. 13.6% alcohol. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $80.

2022 Polperro “Coverdale Hill” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry and cranberry fruit layered with road dust. In the mouth, juicy cherry and raspberry fruit have a lovely aromatic sweetness and citrus peel brightness as powdery tannins coat the mouth and flex their muscles. Lovely earthy notes counterpoint the bright and juicy fruit. Quite lovely with a strength of grip that sneaks up on you. 13.1% alcohol. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $??

Stonier

CEO and Co-Owner Aaron Drummond calls Stonier a 46-year-old startup. And indeed, there’s something phoenix-like about the latest incarnation of one of the Mornington Peninsula’s most hallowed names.

In the 1970s, Brian Stonier was the managing director of Penguin Books and Australia’s most prominent publishing executive, and he was deeply in love with wine. In 1975, he purchased a huge chunk of land on the peninsula and started planting in 1977, and didn’t stop until 1988. By that time, he had quit his publishing job to focus full-time on wine. When Stonier began planting, most of the vineyards in the area were 1- or 2-acre hobby vineyards. Stonier planted 47 acres.

“He made a lot of mistakes,” says Drummond. “He planted Cabernet Sauvignon, for starters.” But in 1982, Stonier tried Pinot Noir, and that did quite well. He quickly regrafted all the Cabernet to Pinot Noir. The estate quickly became one of the most well-known and successful labels from the region, and its success encouraged much of the vineyard development in the decades that followed.

By 2000, Stonier was in his seventies and looking to sell. The winery was eventually picked up by Petaluma, which itself was soon purchased by Lion Nathan, which was soon sold to Kirin, who then sold it to Constellation, and on and on through several more iterations.

“The property frankly just got lost,” says Drummond, “They didn’t stuff it up, but they definitely didn’t invest.” Stonier had become something of a shell of a winery, which is why Drummond found himself using it as a custom crush facility during the 9 years he was working at Craggy Range.

Around 2021, Drummond started to hear through the grapevine that the winery was going to be put up for sale and that the sellers were quite motivated to finally be rid of it, and he saw an opportunity to recut a tarnished and chipped gem of a wine estate. Drummond and some partners purchased the estate in 2022. “We’re going back to what it was: a fine wine play,” he says.

Production has dropped from 40,000 cases to 15,000, and Drummond has assembled a dynamic new team that is bringing attention to detail that the estate has perhaps never seen, both in the vineyards and in the winemaking. That team got to do some blending in 2022, start making some changes in 2023, and the 2024 vintage was really the first time farming and winemaking were fully aligned with new standards and protocols.

If the 2023 wines I tasted were any indication, this is an estate well poised to achieve great things. The combination of organically, dry-farmed, old-vine plant material on volcanic soils, and high-quality, low-intervention winemaking with the use of whole clusters for Pinot yields wines of impressive refinement and energy.

As of the time of writing, Stonier does not have a US importer, but they are looking for one.

2023 Stonier Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of unripe nectarines, lemon peel, and pomelo flesh mixed with a hint of crushed nuts. In the mouth, juicy lemon and green apple flavors mix with a touch of nectarine and lemon pith. Nice stony underbelly and hints of floral notes as the wine finishes with a faint chalky texture. Excellent acidity. Fruit is from non-estate vineyards that are farmed by the Stonier team, all within about 5k of the estate. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $26

2023 Stonier “Reserve” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of white flowers, lemon pith, and a hint of resinous citrus oil. In the mouth, gorgeous lemon peel and white flowers mix with lemon oil and grapefruit pith. Tangy, faintly saline, and faintly mineral. Estate fruit only. Vines with planting dates in 1988 and 1977. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $50

2023 Stonier “KBS Vineyard” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon pith and wet pavement. In the mouth, stony lemon pith and grapefruit pith flavors have a chalky, fine minerality and lovely, restrained wet chalkboard texture. Great acidity and a hint of austerity, with a little hint of nougat lingering in the finish. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $50

2023 Stonier Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of earth and chopped herbs, raspberry, and raspberry leaf. In the mouth, bright raspberry and raspberry leaf flavors mix with earth and a hint of underbrush. Fine, gauzy tannins hang in the background. Excellent acidity. Made from purchased fruit and declassified estate fruit. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $30

2023 Stonier “Stonier Family Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
A hazy light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of wet stone, raspberry, and sour cherry. In the mouth, gorgeous redcurrant and raspberry flavors mix with sour cherry and faint dusty herbal notes. Beautiful candied red apple notes and a hint of dried flowers. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $50

2022 Stonier “Reserve” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberries with hints of blueberries, earth, and chopped green herbs. In the mouth, faintly muscular tannins wrap around a core of raspberry and blueberry fruit flavors shot through with dusty dried herbs. There’s definitely a mineral, volcanic quality to the tannins. Notes of earth in the finish. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $60

Port Philip Estate – Kooyong

First planted in 1987, Port Philip Estate was a boutique estate that Giorgio and Dianne Gjergja thought would be perfect as a small retirement hobby as Giorgio exited his electrical manufacturing business. The couple bought the 10-acre property on Red Hill in 2000, but when the opportunity to purchase the much larger Kooyong estate came along in 2004, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

The couple’s two children, Marco and Melissa, joined the fold in 2010, stepping away from their business careers to help manage what has become one of the larger estates on the Mornington Peninsula. The company continues to produce both the Port Philp and Kooyong brands, though Kooyong tends to dominate the attention, both because the brand produces far more wine and because of the showpiece architecture of the winery’s cellar door, seen above.

The viticulture at Kooyong sticks to largely conventional lines, with their roughly 148 acres of vineyards managed in what Marco describes as a lutte raisonnée fashion, including the use of Roundup. Winemaking is a little less interventional, with the use of ambient yeasts, gravity flow, some whole clusters for Pinot, no fining, and minimal filtration.

In general, the wines feel a bit safe and predictable, with the Chardonnays stronger than the Pinot Noirs. The cellar door is truly spectacular, and worth a visit for the food and the view. The wines are not yet imported to the United States.

2023 Kooyong “Clonale” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon peel and lemon pith with a hint of pastry cream. In the mouth, lemon curd and lemon peel flavors have a nice brightness and hints of flowers lingering in the finish. Decent acidity. An expression of the Kooyong and the Balnaring vineyards owned by the estate. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9.

2023 Kooyong “Single Vineyard” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon oil and lemon peel. In the mouth, zippy lemon peel and lemon pith flavors are juicy with excellent acidity and nice length. There’s a stony aspect to the wine with a wet pavement minerality underneath. A blend of all the parcels on the Kooyong estate’s Teurong Vineyard. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.

2022 Kooyong “Farrago” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of roasted nuts and nougat, with hints of nectarine and candied lemon. In the mouth, zippy lemon and grapefruit flavors mix with a touch of nectarine and a nice, faint salinity that backs the excellent acidity. Notes of nectarine and crushed hazelnuts linger in the finish. Nice wet pavement minerality. Comes from a specific 2.8 ha block on the western edge of the estate vineyard featuring iron-oxide encrusted sandstone nodules. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.

2022 Kooyong “Faultline” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale gold in the glass, this wine smells of wet pavement, a touch of white flowers, pastry cream, and citrus pith. In the mouth, citrus pith, a touch of vanilla, and wet pavement mix with grapefruit and pastry cream notes. Nice acidity and stony underbelly. Lean and bright with hints of lime in the finish. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.

2023 Kooyong “Massale” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberry compote, cherries, a hint of brown sugar, and a touch of something vegetal. In the mouth, cherry and raspberry flavors mix with a touch of earth and chopped green herbs. Softer acidity here and a gauzy tannin that hangs in the back and top of the mouth. Fermented in stainless steel with native yeasts. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 8.5.

2023 Kooyong “Single Vineyard” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium garnet in color, this wine smells of brown sugar and raspberry compote. In the mouth, raspberry and cherry flavors mix with a touch of brown sugar and dried dusty herbs. Lightly gauzy tannins that leave the impression of silty river mud (in a good way). Nice length. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9.

2021 Kooyong “Meres” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium ruby in the glass with a hint of brick at the edge, this wine smells of red apple skin, dried herbs, and a touch of brandy. In the mouth, juicy red apple skin, raspberry, and citrus peel notes mix with dried herbs and a nice wet pavement minerality. Notes of oak and a touch of brown sugar linger in the finish. Powdery. mouth-coating tannins. This is the most exposed block on the Kooyong Estate. 12.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9.

2021 Kooyong “Haven” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium ruby in the glass, this wine smells of redcurrant and dried herbs with hints of raspberry. In the mouth, muscular tannins wrap around a core of redcurrant and raspberry fruit heavily tinged with dried herbs and dried citrus peel. Hints of baking spices linger in the finish, along with the dusty tannins. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9.

2021 Kooyong “Ferrous” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium ruby in the glass, this wine smells of baking spices and raspberries. In the mouth, juicy, sappy raspberry fruit mixes with dried citrus peel and dried herbs. Silky textured, with excellent acidity, and lightly muscular tannins that are fine-grained and mouth-coating. Nice green herb notes linger in the finish. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.

Paringa Estate

Lindsay McCall had childhood dreams of becoming a farmer. After all, he was a farmer’s son. But then those dreams were dashed to pieces when his parents announced they were selling the family farm in Gippsland. By all accounts, McCall was devastated. But he picked himself up by his bootstraps and went off to university to study economics and geography, and eventually became a schoolteacher. His first assignment brought him to a school on the Mornington Peninsula, and there he stayed. A fellow teaching colleague convinced the beer-drinking farmer’s son to try wine, and a whole new world opened up for McCall.

By 1984, at the age of 32, McCall had saved up enough money to buy a sheltered piece of property on the peninsula, and by 1985, McCall was putting the first Shiraz vines in the ground at what would become Paringa Estate. Now 73, McCall is still on the tractor nearly every day. His son Jamie is the head winemaker, and in addition to the original 10 acres of the family estate, the McCalls have purchased the neighboring farm on which they are planting Pinot and Chardonnay. They lease an additional 75 acres elsewhere on the peninsula, which they use to make the larger volume wines of their “Peninsula” line.

Paringa‘s production sits at around 18,000 cases now, with the estate wines making up only a few thousand of those cases. The vineyards are farmed in what might be described as “best practice conventional” farming, and the large-production wines are made with inoculated ferments and are crossflow-filtered before bottling. The estate wines are made in a more artisanal fashion, with ambient yeast fermentations in both steel and neutral larger-format oak casks using a small percentage of whole clusters for red wines and only small amounts of new oak for aging.

All the wines are excellent, with the estate wines demonstrating a higher level of quality and complexity. Many Shiraz plantings have been replaced with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on the Mornington Peninsula, but the remarkable quality of Paringa’s Shiraz bottlings suggests that some of those removals might have been a mistake. Unlike the bold fruit many expect to find in Australian Shiraz, Paringa’s savory, spiced herbal, and lean berry fruit shows an entirely different and compelling side of the grape. Paringa’s Pinot Noirs are no less compelling, demonstrating a perfumed, ethereal delicacy.

I wish the wines were easier to find in the US.

2023 Paringa Estate “Peninsula” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon pith and peel. In the mouth, crisp white flowers, lemon peel, and lemon pith flavors have a nice bright cleanliness with excellent acidity, keeping the saliva glands flowing. Nice salinity and overall balance. Whole bunch pressed and fermented with commercial yeasts in 10% new oak puncheons. Malolactic blocked. Aged for about 9 months before bottling. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $28. click to buy.

2023 Paringa Estate “Estate” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of candied lemon peel and wet chalkboard. In the mouth, gorgeous candied lemon and wet stone flavors mix with lemon peel, grapefruit pith, and a hint of salinity. Lovely and very tasty with a stony underbelly. Partial malolactic conversion. Aged in 20% new French oak. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $40. click to buy.

2022 Paringa Estate “The Paringa” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest gold in the glass, this wine smells of resinous lemon oil and a hint of struck flint. In the mouth, stony wet chalkboard and lemon peel and pith flavors mix with pink grapefruit and crushed seashells. Lemon peel and oil linger in the finish with a hint of white flowers. Crystalline in quality. Comes from the 9 rows next to the winery, the oldest Chardonnay block on the estate, planted in 1986. The wine goes through full malolactic conversion and is aged in roughly 30% new French oak. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $~75.

2023 Paringa Estate “Peninsula” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light ruby in the glass with garnet highlights, this wine smells of raspberry pastilles and candied redcurrants. In the mouth, juicy raspberry and redcurrant flavors are bright and tangy with citrus peel acidity. Faint, gauzy tannins and mouthwatering acidity. Not especially complex, but extremely delicious. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $30. click to buy.

2021 Paringa Estate “Estate” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light ruby in the glass, this wine smells of raspberries, redcurrants, and wet chalkboard with a hint of dried herbs. In the mouth, gorgeous, electric acidity enlivens flavors of raspberry and redcurrant tinged with orange peel and sour cherry. Zippy and stony, with a lovely crushed stone tannin that hangs gauzily in the background. Extremely pretty. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $50. click to buy.

2021 Paringa Estate “The Paringa” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light ruby in the glass, this wine smells of dried flowers, redcurrant, and raspberries. In the mouth, gorgeous stony tannins wrap around a core of raspberry and sour cherry fruit. Beautiful, juicy acidity brings with it flavors of citrus peel, rooibos, and dried herbs. Wet pavement and herbs linger in the finish. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $??

2021 Paringa Estate “Peninsula” Shiraz, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackberry and boysenberry fruit. In the mouth, juicy boysenberry fruit has a lively, boisterous quality with lovely sweet fruit aromas and a juicy character. Faint powdery tannins support a lithe, medium-bodied quality that is surprising for Shiraz. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $28. click to buy.

2021 Paringa Estate “Estate” Shiraz, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of underbrush, blackberries, and baking spices. In the mouth, incredibly bright acidity makes juicy boysenberry and blackberry flavors lean towards the red fruit end of the spectrum, with lingering raspberry and unripe red blackberry flavors shot through with citrus peel acidity that is mouthwatering. Beautifully restrained powdery tannins hang gauzily in the background. Something of a revelation when it comes to Australian Shiraz. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $35. click to buy.

2021 Paringa Estate “The Paringa” Shiraz, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of wet earth, boysenberry, and dried flowers. In the mouth, stony tannins bring a sort of monumental quality to the wine as flavors of boysenberry and crushed stone mix with dried herbs and underbrush. Great acidity means the fruit qualities remain juicy, but they are equally matched with this stony monument of savory notes that carries through the finish, scented with oak. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $??

Ten Minutes by Tractor

In the early 1990s, three families bought vineyards along the Main Ridge of the Mornington Peninsula. The McCutcheons, the Wallises, and the Judds each bought a small farm and put in a few acres of vineyards. After a few years of farming, they became close, and when one of the families suggested they pool their resources and share tractors, labor, and ultimately hired a single vineyard manager to look after all three properties, which were all within a 10-minute ride on their shared tractor. That pet name for their project stuck, and when they decided to pool their acreages and make a joint wine together, they couldn’t come up with anything they liked more, and Ten Minutes by Tractor was born: a mini-coop wine brand formed of friends and neighbors.

Their first wines hit the market in 2001, and in the middle of what he calls his mid-life crisis, technology and finance entrepreneur Martin Spedding tasted a bottle of their wine and came away very impressed. He was even more impressed when he heard the story of the vineyard and met Peter Wallis at the Victorian Winemakers Exhibition in Melbourne, where Wallis invited Spedding to come taste sometime. Unbeknownst to Wallis, Spedding had decided to leave the business world behind and had set his heart on the wine business. He had been looking all over Australia and New Zealand for vineyard land or a winery for sale.

A year later, Spedding showed up at the tiny tasting room for Ten Minutes by Tractor. “I started asking questions while I was tasting,’ and at one point Julie Eldridge, the young woman working at the cellar door, said, ‘it’s such a shame that they’ve decided to sell,'” recalls Spedding. “I said, ‘Oh.’ And ten days later, the deal was done. It was perfect. I loved the story, I loved the vineyards, I loved the style of the wine.”

Spedding would go on to eventually purchase the McCutcheon vineyard and still holds leases on the other two sites, along with seven other properties on the peninsula. He built a lovely new cellar door and award-winning restaurant, only to have it burn down in a fire in 2018. It has been rebuilt, and Julie Eldridge still works there. Spedding built a new winery facility in 2019.

Winemaker Imogen Dillon joined in 2017 and has taken the winemaking to another level of quality. Under her guidance, fruit from each vineyard site and block is treated the same in the winery, leaving decisions to be made on a barrel-by-barrel basis as the wines show their finished character. That treatment in the winery involves ambient yeast fermentations and natural malolactic conversions in a mix of new and used oak. Some Pinots see a bit of whole-cluster fermentation, and elevage length depends on the level of the final wine.

“We’re looking for that pure, delicate edge and minerality with all the beauty that Mornington can offer,” says Dillon. “We make single-vintage wine decisions based on the vintage,” she continues. “In an average year, we might make one vineyard-designated wine from each vineyard, but in some years we don’t have the fruit for that due to yields.”

Spedding’s latest endeavor involves a couple of extremely high-density plantings. His Spedding vineyard is planted with 18,500 vines of Pinot Noir on 1.48 hectares, and the Gabrielle vineyard is planted with Chardonnay at a density of 14,000 vines per hectare. All the vineyards are managed within Sustainable Winegrowing of Australia protocols.

The Ten Minutes by Tractor wines are among the most impressive I have tasted from the Mornington Peninsula. Both their Chardonnays and Pinots capture the vibrance and elegance that Mornington can do so well. I only wish they were more readily available in the US.

2024 Ten Minutes by Tractor “TenX” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of lemon peel and lemon pith. In the mouth, bright candied lemon peel and lemon juice flavors mix with candied pink grapefruit and very bright tingly acidity. Juicy, bouncy, and quite tasty. From warmer sites. Aged in 15% new French oak for about 5 months before bottling. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $??

2023 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Estate” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of nectarine and lemon peel, grapefruit pith and white flowers. In the mouth, lemon pith and white flowers mix with nectarine and a touch of pastry cream. Stony wet chalkboard minerality shimmers underneath the fruit, with tangy mouthwatering lemon lingering in the finish. Chalky texture. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $~45

2023 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Judd” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of sea air, white flowers, and lemon oil. In the mouth, wonderfully juicy lemon oil and pink grapefruit mix with oyster shell and lemon pith, all with a crystalline vibrating aspect. Quartz-like transparency with wet chalkboard minerality and light salinity. Outstanding. Vines planted in the early 1990s— one of the original three vineyards that went into this estate. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $150. click to buy.

2022 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Wallis” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Pale greenish gold in the glass, this wine smells of orange peel, orange blossom, nectarine, and citrus pith. In the mouth, electric tangy lemon and orange peel flavors mix with pink grapefruit and wonderfully saline brightness. Chalky underlying minerality and long sapid mouthwatering brightness. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $115. click to buy.

2022 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Trahere” Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Palest gold in the glass with a hint of green, this wine smells of lemon pith, white flowers, and grapefruit. In the mouth, zingy lemon and grapefruit flavors are silky on the palate with an underlying chalky minerality. Wonderfully crystalline in quality with a long linear profile that lasts quite a while on the palate. Lean and persistent. Planted at a density of 6000 vines per hectare—what Spedding calls mid-density planting. 12.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $??

2024 Ten Minutes by Tractor “TenX” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberry and cranberry fruit. In the mouth, wonderfully boisterous, juicy fruit flavors of cherry and raspberry mix with some dusty dried herbs and a hint of green herbs. Lightly grippy tannins. Nice freshness, fantastic acidity. Fermented in a combination of steel and concrete. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $??

2023 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Up the Hill” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberry and redcurrant with a hint of dusty spices and herbs. In the mouth, juicy, bright raspberry and redcurrant flavors mix with sour cherry, and light, grippy tannins that coat the mouth. Dusty dried herbs and citrus peel mix with notes of green herbs in the finish. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $~50

2023 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Down the Hill” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cherry and raspberry fruit with a hint of blueberries. In the mouth, grippy tannins surround a core of cherry, plum, and raspberry shot through with baking spices and dried herbs. Fine-grained tannins have a stony quality. 13.5% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9. Cost: $~50

2022 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Coolart Road” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cranberry and raspberry fruit. In the mouth, gorgeously bright candied raspberry and redcurrant fruit flavors are crystalline in quality with faint dusty dried herb notes. Powdery, gauzy tannins hang like a chalk-dust cloud in the background as the bright fruit remains mouthwatering on the palate. Hints of citrus peel and dried herbs linger in the finish, with a deep stony underbelly. There’s a faint salinity to this wine that adds to the mouthwatering character. Fermented in concrete and steel. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $78. click to buy.

2022 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Trahere” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberries, blueberries, and citrus peel. In the mouth, raspberry and blueberry fruit flavors mix with citrus peel and dried herbs. Fantastic bright acidity and dusty mouth-coating tannins. Nice minerality sits underneath it all, with chopped green herbs and lingering freshness in the mouth. Fruit comes from a vineyard with 12,200 vines per hectare, a blend of four clones, including the largest planting of the Calera clone in Australia. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $~125

2023 Ten Minutes by Tractor “Mihaly” Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia
Light to medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of raspberry and sour cherry with a hint of floral quality. In the mouth, juicy raspberry, redcurrant, and sour cherry flavors are juicy and bright with citrus peel acidity and a hint of salinity. Gorgeous fine-grained tannins hang ghostlike in the back of the palate. Hints of dried and fresh herbs linger in the finish. Exquisite. 13% alcohol. Closed with a screwcap. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $??