Welcome to a Victoria pinot lover’s dream — six bottles, three regions, and a tasty snapshot of Victoria’s cool-climate pinot noir scene. We’ve picked two standout wines each from Gippsland, Mornington Peninsula, and Geelong. These are all threaded with some common themes being close in geography, but present wildly different in character in their delivery.

As we move west to east Geelong brings the minerality and spice with a touch more savoury edge, deeper pitched fruit and fine tannins to lock it all in. Two young guns here (3 really) with the two Bens at Mulline and Jess Robertson of Clyde park. These are brilliant single vineyard expressions that you are sure to love.

Mornington Peninsula always appeals with its glossy plush fruits, mellow palates and lifted aromatics, delivering silky charm and some serious sneaky and subtle depth. Onannon and Todd Dexter are representing the Peninsula with two under the radar pinot options we know you will love.

Last and definitely not lease Gippsland is fast becoming the go to coastal local for great Vic pinot. Here it's a little wildness that appeals along with some fine textural elements woven in for good measure. Think untamed fruit, earthy edges, and a natural, raw energy in the glass and if you are looking for two if the best go no further then Avani and Dirty Three for your drinking pleasure.

Same grape, same state — totally different expressions. Pull the tops, pour a glass, and take a tasty road trip through some coastal goodness.

The Moranghurk Vineyard was established in '97 at Lethbridge in the Moorabool Valley. Made with 100% whole berries and matured in seasoned oak. Bright crimson, this pretty, perfumed wine exhibits aromas of red fruits, rose petals and some fresh mint leaves. The light-to-medium-bodied palate is vibrant, juicy and long. Fine-grained, gently persistent tannins add to a wine that can be drunk now but will reward time in the cellar. (95) PHILIP RICH, Halliday Wine Companion

Clyde Park are really coming into their own of late with a string of great releases and this is one of the strongest yet.

The Moranghurk vineyard was established in 1997 by Ross and Liz Wilkie on their beautiful 459ha property in the Lethbridge district of the Moorabool Valley, Geelong. The wines from this site showcase the outstanding varietal character and flavour of the region, whilst being distinctively Moranghurk.  Fermented in open fermenters and hand plunged twice daily. Pressed to French oak for malolactic fermentation and matured for 10 months prior to bottling. 

Boysenberry, strawberry and red cherry flavours come threaded with sweet, twiggy spice, cedarwood oak also nestled neatly therein. This is well structured in general and will both hold and mature for a number of years, but it’s also readily accessible right now; it’s arguably the most accessible wine in the Mulline range this year. There’s no question of its quality. There’s detail here; finesse. (93+) CAMPBELL MATTINSON, The Wine Front

SPECIAL VALUE - A single-vineyard wine from the Surf Coast, the vineyard planted in 2001; 40% whole bunches and matured in 25% new barriques. A bright crimson ruby. From a cool vineyard and it shows, in a good, way. Aromas of strawberries, cranberries and a little spice. You barely notice the whole bunches, which are already integrating into the wine. Elegantly wrought, delicate and persistent on the palate. Thoughtful winemaking here and I like how Ben has worked with the fruit, rather than trying to make something the wine isn't. (97) PHILIP RICH, Halliday Wine Companion

Pretty and lifted aromas of dried herbs, sap, spice, cherry, wild raspberry and mossy under-brush. Bright, lively and crunchy in flavour. There's a drive of snappy red fruits and bramble, along with chalky, grippy tannins and pointed acidity. Quite linear at the moment and will benefit from some bottle age. AARON BRASCHER, The Real Review

You would have to go a long way to find three more open-hearted and utterly committed winemakers; the world is their oyster, their ambitions unlimited. JAMES HALLIDAY

Invariably lovely wines from Onannon. GARY WALSH

A blend of seven vineyards across the sub-regions of Tuerong, Main Ridge, Shoreham, Red Hill, Merricks and Flinders.

Talk about pristine. This Pinot Noir is presented in immaculate condition. Dark cherries, a splash of strawberry, toast and chicory notes, and rounds of turned earth and assorted dry/roasted spices. It’s fresh, crunchy, silken and spicy at once, the finish then well formed and well sustained. It has substance but mostly it has flow. I can’t fault this. (94) CAMPBELL MATTINSON, The Wine Front

These are your quintessential overachievers in the wine game. Everything is done right here. They are slick wines that offer mass appeal and hit the high registers of drinkability, but there is more than enough suave, subtly nuanced, elements to keep even the most serious nerd happy. 

There’s a fruit party going on here with loads of wild strawberries, red cherries and cranberries, spicy, too with snips of fresh basil and menthol plus heady florals mainly roses. The palate is mid-weighted, and a fruit succulence comes through so, too, layers of tannins with the sweet oak adding a hint of bitter green walnut on the finish. In its youth, there’s a prettiness as complexity will come with age. (95) JANE FAULKNER, Halliday Wine Companion

I pretty much never drink any samples, because it’s not a good habit to get into, though maybe a few swallows might make a summer while I’m actually tasting, but hey, that’s what I call the FCE (Full Consumer Experience). Anyway, I had a few glasses of this last night while watching the documentary about Ennio Morricone – “Ennio” – which is currently streaming on Stan. Very good too, and this, in a way, while not Italian, seemed a suitable style of wine for that show. I cooked my children some duck breast for tea, with jasmine rice, steamed greens and plum sauce, but I didn’t eat any of that, though this wine would have been most excellent with it. I had a piece of bread with some Laughing Cow cheese on it. Economies must be made.

Fine, kind of stony, perfumed, cherry and red fruit, gentle spiced oak, something a little earthy/autumnal too. It’s light to medium-bodied, pleasantly sappy, with a good crunch to acidity, really pleasing pumice stone tannin, and a offers a juicy/savoury finish of excellent length, with a little blood orange bite. Very nice. (94) GARY WALSH, The Wine Front

Pretty and lifted aromas of cherry, briar, sap, Asian spice, redcurrant, underbrush and a woodsy earthiness. Structured, fine, delicate, long and layered. There’s a supple drive of pure red fruits, subtle oak and textured tannins. Precise and pretty pinot. AARON BRASHER, The Real Review

Fruit off the D’Angelo vineyard at Officer, fermented with 50% whole-bunches, so expect it to be perfumed with joss sticks, violets, roses, a little sappy/twiggy and dusty, too, but in a good way. There’s some volume, a bit more oomph with ripe, fleshy and decisive tannins, the fuller-bodied palate flush with dark cherries, roasted tomatoes, amaro and energising, lively acidity. (95) JANE FAULKNER, Halliday Wine Companion

Deep-ish bright red-purple colour; lots of dried herb bunchy notes on the nose, with echoes of root vegetables and bitter Italian herbs. The wine is full in the mouth and quite firmly structured, bright and youthful, all promising much for the future. Excellent depth of flavour, concentration and potential: a touch of cleansing bitterness at the finish. I would cellar this for a year or two before opening. (D'Angelo vineyard, Officer) (94) HUON HOOKE, The Real Review 

In the heart of Gippsland Marcus Satchell and his wife Lisa Sartori craft some of Gippsland best wines with a focus on single site pinot noir. Marcus was a bit of a trailblazer for the region bring the wines of the region into the consciousness of the local Vic wine scene with there open and generous styling and subtle complexity. As a native to the region he was perfectly placed for the inside-line when it came to sourcing the regions best fruit for his wines.

He spent his formative years in the Yarra Valley and overseas forming friendships and working with some of the best in the business. Mentors and friends that he holds dear to his heart drive his ongoing pursuit of making better and better wine. If he's not off consulting, wine judging, pruning vines or talking passionately about his craft, you might find him out in the surf or playing music around town but don't be fooled, the man knows is way around the winery better than most.

From Gippsland and, by the label, Issan Vineyard, a site winemaker Shashi Singh is into for its high density planting and organic farming. Avani is one of those very important Victorian wineries, from where I sit, making beautiful wines (by beautiful people). Always a treat to revisit. Avani is based in Mornington Peninsula, of course.

This is a cool and restrained pinot noir, lithe and shapely, fine boned, a web of lacy, silty tannin lends structure and the wine sits comfortable in its dark cherry, black olive, faintly game meat-meets-rosemary savouriness with a little sweet. smoky earth character in the mix for good measure. Understated and elegant but with plenty going on. A little spread in texture gives the wine a moreish feel. It feels fancy too, in that distinct way that great wines of the world hold themselves. Very beautiful, is the message. (96) MIKE BENNIE, The Wine Front

Avani Wines is a small, highly respected producer based in the Mornington Peninsula of Victoria, Australia. Founded by Shashi and Devendra Singh, Avani (meaning Earth in Sanskrit) is dedicated to crafting natural, site-driven wines that reflect their deep respect for the land and the traditions of minimal-intervention winemaking.

At the heart of Avani’s philosophy is a commitment to organic farming (certified) and natural winemaking. The estate vineyard is meticulously tended without synthetic chemicals, and the wines are made using wild yeasts, with no additions apart from a touch of sulphur at bottling — and even that is minimal or sometimes absent.