Wine Weekend in the Mornington Peninsula

In two weeks time I will have lived in Melbourne for four years. When I moved here I had visions of weekends spent in the Yarra Valley and leisurely trips down the Great Ocean Road. The reality has been quite different. I realised recently, that since moving here, I have only been to the Yarra Valley three times – I had been four times when I lived in Brisbane! Add to that one brief trip to Rutherglen, one day in Heathcote, and you have my entire experience of Victorian wineries wrapped up in one pathetic little paragraph.

This needs to change. So at the end of January, on a Friday afternoon, some girlfriends and I loaded up my ’97 Pulsar (it was bulging) and headed to the Mornington Peninsula. We were very lucky that one of the girls has a family owned shack in the region so we scored some free accommodation. There is something so delightful about a shack- this one has the most magnificent kitchen…

Home decor aside, we prepared a feast and settled down with wine to sort out the problems of the universe and plan our attack for the next day.

Saturday was all about the wine.

We started the day at Moorooduc Estate. It was early so we had the tasting room to ourselves and were free to slowly work our way through their exceptional range. The Mornington Peninsula is pinot noir and chardonnay territory and very little else is grown here (a pinot gris here and there and the occasional aromatic varietal). This means that, at wineries like Moorooduc, you can focus on the differences between their single vineyard wines and not get distracted by multiple grape varieties.

We also met this handsome fella.

Next up was Port Phillip Estate. The amazing, architecturally designed winery has beautiful views across the vineyards and, although we didn’t eat there, the menu looks fantastic. There are three labels produced by the winemaking team – Port Phillip Estate, Kooyong and Quartier. The range is quite extensive so in the tasting room they just have five or six wines available for tasting at any time- encouraging repeat trips to sample the range. The winemaker has a minimal intervention approach allowing fermentation and malolactic fermentation to take place naturally. The wines we tasted were all quite lean and juicy with really fresh acidity. 

By now our tummies were grumbling and nothing sets you up for an afternoon of wine tasting better than burgers and beer. So it was off to the Red Hill Brewery for a pint of their amazing Scotch Ale and some serious burgers. My buddies all plumped for Cheeseburgers with double beef, triple cheese, relish and aioli ($15).

I went for the lighter option of the cola braised pork belly with herb and apple slaw, fruit chutney and aioli ($15).

This is the only time pork belly will ever be the lighter option (compared to the cheeseburger). The sweet and tender meat was balanced by fresh slaw and a beautiful soft bun. I did have a spot of food envy for the enormous cheesy burgers. Fortunately they were so big that I scored a few bites.

I also polished off more than my fair share of the chilli fries ($11).

While my companions were ready for a snooze, I (the designated driver and therefore no beer on board) was rearing to get to the next winery.

Paringa Estate have quite a line up of wines, including a Viognier. If you think you don’t like chardonnay then this is a really interesting winery to visit. We were shown three chardonnays, all with different oak treatment.

Chardonnay often seems to divide people into the lovers and the haters. Usually the haters have been put off by big, buttery, heavily oaked chardonnay (and the lovers have been turned on by this same style). There is a lot more to this grape variety, it can show so many different expressions depending on the winemaking. If it is made with older French oak, often you barely notice the oak characters. This kind of treatment allows the wine to soften and age beautifully while remaining quite crisp and clean. New French oak will show a lot more smoky, oaky, vanilla characters in the wine. Chardonnay is usually described as having a percentage of new French oak; this refers to what proportion of the final blend was fermented and aged in new oak and can give you a good indication of what to expect.

The first chardonnay in the lineup, the 2012 Penninsula Chardonnay, was barrel fermented in seasoned oak. It was light and linear with stonefruit and citrus characters on the nose and palate, finishing with a crisp acidity. A good wine to change the minds of the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) campers.

The other two Chardonnays were a step up in oak: the 2013 Estate Chardonnay was fermented in 30% new oak and was a lot richer with nutty characters and sweet spices underlying citrus and stonefruit; the 2011 Paringa Chardonnay was different again with 50% new oak but the much cooler year resulted in more grapefruit citrus characters and a heightened elegance.

This kind of experience is why I love cellar door tastings so much. Being able to try wines from different vintages with different wine making approaches helps to increase my understanding significantly.

Last but definitely not least was Ocean Eight. This was a spur of the moment decision when I wanted to take my drowsy crew to “Just one more winery, puhlease.” I have seen Ocean Eight’s wines on some of the best lists in town but never had the opportunity to try them. We were in for quite a treat, a VIP had visited the day before so there were a few back vintage and future release wines open to complement their current range. Again this was a lesson in vintage conditions #winenerd. Usually there are just five wines on tasting: a pinot gris, and two quality levels each of chardonnay pinot noir. However this line-up is so fine that it is well-worth the visit, especially for some of the most aromatic and elegant pinot noir I have tasted from Australia.

Plus some of the most beautiful gardens. I think I took about 200 pictures of these little apple hedges.

That night saw more wine (that I finally got to swallow), pizzas and board games. Followed by an enormous cook up the next morning before returning to reality once again.

So tell me, where should I go next time I am in ‘the pen’?