Product Line
Mornington
Located in the Port Phillip Zone an hour's drive north of Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula has a short, yet remarkable history of fine wine production. While there were a smattering of vineyards in the nineteenth century, modern viticulture on the Peninsula began when Ballieu Myer established a vineyard in 1972. This began an explosion of vineyards over the next thirty years with Main Ridge (1975) Stonier Wines (1978) Dromana Estate (1982) Moorooduc Estate (1983) Paringa Estate (1985) Port Phillip Estate (1987) Kooyong Estate (1996) Yabby Lake (1998), Ten Minutes by Tractor (1999) amongst those to become established during this time. Mornington Peninsula’s proximity to Melbourne and its underlying historical status as a holiday destination has strongly influenced the region's structure, influencing land prices resulting in a patchwork of small vineyards and producers spread across the area triangulated between popular weekend destination of Somerville, Flinders on Bass Straight and Rosebud on Port Phillip Bay. The result is a number of particularly accessible cellar door facilities and restaurants catering to tourists over weekends.
A maritime climate, the influence of Mornington’s proximity to the ocean, Bass Straight, and Port Philip Bay is the single most significant climatic factor affecting vineyards, followed by the diverse typography of terrain. Overall the climate is cool, the pervasive winds limiting issues with humidity and frost. The typography soil profile is diverse, impacting on viticulture, with the significantly cooler, elevated area surrounding Red Hill and Arthurs Seat (Main Ridge, Port Philip Estate) on fertile red volcanic soils, differing from the warmer low-lying areas of Moorooduc and Tuerong (Yabby Lake) which have well-draining sandy soils.
Mornington Peninsula is renowned for the production of high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay which are the most planted varieties, alongside Shiraz, Pinot Gris and very small quantities of Sauvignon Blanc. Mornington Pinot Noir is diverse, with many single vineyard bottlings ranging from light delicate expressions to more powerful styles with wines displaying flavours of bright cherry, strawberry and nuances of earth to powerful expressions with darker fruits and firmer tannins. Outstanding producers include Kooyong, Hurley Vineyards, Port Philip Estate, Ten Minutes by Tractor, Moorooduc Estate and Yabby Lake. Quality conscious producers follow the same model with Chardonnay bottling premium wines from site specific vineyards. On the whole these display delicate aromas of melon, citrus, with warmer sites display fig notes. Depending on winemaking styles they also may show notes of nutty characters of cashew and toasty oak or butter. Outstanding producers include Main Ridge, Kooyong, Yabby Lake, Moorooduc and Ten Minutes by Tractor.
While only planted in small quantities Shiraz from the Mornington Peninsula displays the classic cool climate characters including spice, black and white pepper, smoked meats and liquorice. Outstanding producers are limited, though the variety is starting to gain ground with both Paringa Estate and Foxy’s Hangout winning awards at major Australian wine shows in the last three years.
Pinot Gris is produced in small quantities and occasionally labelled as Pinot Grigio to indicate a dryer Italian style expression of the variety with T'Gallant and Quealy having had success with this variety.
Sources:
James Halliday’s Wine Atlas of Australian, James Halliday
Victorian Department of Primary Industries
Wine Australia
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$220.00 Regular Price $240.00 -
Quealy Seventeen Rows Pinot Noir 2021The most structured offering in the Quealy stable – the tannins are textural with seemingly more fruit weight. It still has the vivacity of the ’21 vintage, yet incorporates hints of sweet and tart rhubarb, dark cherries, mocha and dried herbs plus cedar oak flavour. The palate doesn’t quite flesh out, even if it is medium bodied, as the acidity is keeping everything reined in, bar the slightly bitter, charred radicchio character on the finish, which adds to the mouthfeel and pleasure of drinking.
(95) JANE FAULKNER, Halliday Wine Companion
Strong release. Both woodsy spice and oak notes aplenty but with the fruit to support it. Back cherries, strawberries, toast and coffee grounds, with cedar and dried herb notes over the top. Both inherently complex and inherently bold, even at 12.6% alc. Savoury to the point of bitter, but not. Firm-ish. It’s not for drinking now; it’s built to be matured. (93+) CAMPBELL MATTINSON, The Wine Front
Complex foresty, earthy, leaf-litter aromas and flavours. Peppery and Campari-like wholebunch touches. There’s an individualism and singular character in this wine. Very enjoyable."
(93) HUON HOOKE, The Real Review
2021Pinot noirAustralia441$78.00 As low as $70.20 -
Onannon Mornington Chardonnay 2024A blend of five vineyards, from the sub-regions of Tuerong, Main Ridge, Shoreham, Merricks and Flinders
Samphire, ripe grapefruit, apple crumble, some spice. Juicy, savoury too with an umami quality of white mushrooms and white miso, Scotch Finger biscuit, flinty with it, saline and savoury on a long lime-laced finish. Complex and individual. Such a great thing to drink. GARY WALSH2023chardonnayAustralia441$42.00 As low as $37.80 -
Onannon Tuerong Robinson Chardonnay 2022Plenty of struck match, ginger snap biscuits, cardamom, curry leaf, aniseed, so much spice, pink grapefruit and stonefruit, lots of flinty texture, a buttery white mint chocolate richness, and a very long grippy finish. This is so complex and engaging. Caramel with citrus bite. So lovely. (95) GARY WALSH, The Wine Front
Fruit off the 35-year-old Robinson vineyard, hand picked and pressed to barrel, 30% new French oak plus a portion to 1000L stainless steel eggs; 50% undergoes mlf. Expect stone fruit and invigorating lemon flavours, lots of blossom and ginger spice, flint, and the funky sulphides entice immensely. The fuller-bodied palate gives way to creamed honey and lemon curd with the oak neatly integrated adding shape and spicy flavours, too. This turns out moreish and savoury. Another glass please. (95) JANE FAULKNER Wine Companion
2022chardonnayAustralia441$70.00 As low as $63.00 -
Onannon Main Ridge Tudibaring Chardonnay 2022Owner Gary McGibbon and family planted 16 acres to both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on an incredible wild site looking out across the ocean around 10 years ago. 95 clone. Pressed straight to older puncheons and one new barrique, final blend was 10 months in new oak. 100 MLF. Left on gross lees without sulphur until just prior to bottling. Three barrels produced. This is so complex and engaging. WILL BYRON, Onannon2022chardonnayAustralia441$70.00 As low as $63.00 -
Onannon Tuerong Robinson Pinot Noir 2022A savoury and brooding wine with dark red fruits wrapped in woodsy, herbal spice. It's earthy in that forest floor after rain type of way with plenty of wholebunch giving sinew to it's frame and a distinctive savoury injection. There's a little, press of powdery tannin on the finish. It's a little wild and inward but if you like your pinots like this it's going to be right up your alley. ALEX DOBSON, PWS
2022Pinot noirAustralia441$74.00 As low as $66.60 -
Onannon Main Ridge Tudibaring Pinot Noir 2022So pretty and appealing thanks to its up-front red cherries and spice flavours. At first quite fruit-sweet, then other elements come into play: tangy, tart, pomegranate-like acidity, a touch of menthol. The oak is oh-so-subtle, adding some background nuances to the lighter-framed palate with lacy tannins. This is lovely. All fruit is destemmed, cold soaked for seven days in a carbonic environment and spends six weeks on skins, then pressed straight to oak, 15% new. (95) JANE FAULKNER Wine Companion
Red fruit, pimento, cinnamon and spice, poached strawberry and rhubarb, a little cedar oak. It’s all red fruit, some pomegranate and tamarind tang, light dusty and peppery tannin, a quiet sappy succulence, with a bright and zesty finish of excellent length. Very good. (94) GARY WALSH, The Wine Front
2022Pinot noirAustralia441$74.00 As low as $66.60 -
Onannon Red Hill Harrisons Road Pinot Noir 2022There’s plenty of whole bunch character, though the fruit here is up to the task. Dark raspberry, cherry, peppery and spicy, cardamom pod perfume, with a little toasty oak. Good flavour, density and weight, a dry grip to tannin with the graphite character of whole bunch as a positive, and the finish is long and firm. Nicely done. Very good wine. (95) GARY WALSH, The Wine Front2022Pinot noirAustralia441$74.00 As low as $66.60 -
Hurley Hommage Pinot Noir 2022Homage faces north-east, is the smallest of the vineyards, was planted from cuttings taken from Main Ridge Estate, and – important on the Peninsula – is the most sheltered of the vineyards.
This release is better than excellent. It’s elegant and fine-boned but it has genuine power, most of the latter formed, assembled and employed through the back half of the palate and out through the finish. It’s a Pinot Noir for lovers of Pinot Noir. It’s modestly sweet-sour but it’s silken and cohesive, its black cherry, meat, toast and floral elements singing as one. This is my favourite of the 2022 Hurley Vineyards pinots; they’re all good, but this for me is the most complete. CAMPBELL MATTINSON, The Wine Front
2022Pinot noirAustralia441$105.00 As low as $94.50 -
Hurley Lodestone Pinot Noir 2022Lodestone is north-facing and the warmest of the three sites. But it’s planted to the Burgundian clones 114, 115 and 777 (along with some MV6), and the soils the vines are planted in are rockier. (The Hurley Vineyard is currently for sale, if anyone is interested.)
This is an excellent release. Taut, perfumed, meaty in essence but pretty at the same time. Floral. Its tastes of game, black cherries and strawberries-dipped-in-chocolate, the latter of which makes it sound ‘sweet’ but it’s not; there are so many earth/spice/smoke/meat characters here that it largely comes across as savoury. This will age but I’d personally drink it now; there’s already so much going on. CAMPBELL MATTINSON, The Wine Front
2022Pinot noirAustralia441$105.00 As low as $94.50 -
Moorooduc Estate Pinot Gris on Skins 2023STAFF PICKS 2024 - ALLICIA RAE
Pinot Gris, but not as you know it!
I've been obsessed with this skinsy gris since its inception, but this is my favourite vintage yet. I even took it along to this year's Australia Women in Wine Symposium in Hobart. Fruity, floral, and savoury with a bit of grip, this gris pairs well with sunshine and friends. Serve slightly chilled with charcuterie or BBQ prawns. ALLICIA
2023Pinot GrisAustralia441$44.00 As low as $39.60 -
Paringa Estate ‘The Paringa’ Chardonnay 2021The high acid year has favoured the suite of chardonnays, this undergoing mlf yet still resulting in a finely tuned and tighter than usual The Paringa. No shrinking violet though – packed with stone fruit, grapefruit and Meyer lemon and a powder puff of spices, honeycomb and malt. Super savoury, long and detailed, even lipsmacking. Classy stuff. JANE FAULKNER, Halliday Wine Companion2021chardonnayAustralia441$96.00 As low as $86.40 -
Elanto Balnarring Chardonnay 2023Fantastic intensity of flavour matched to fantastic length. This is a chardonnay for lovers of chardonnay. There's cedarwood oak in play, and a kind of nutty-creaminess too, but it's the blaze of pear, white peach, grapefruit and steel that really woos. Citrussy acidity teams with the pear characters to give the wine an air of juicy refreshment, but everything is in the context of flavour, bold and delicious. This is an exceptional first release, and a truly beautiful wine. CAMPBELL MATTINSON2022chardonnayAustralia441$94.00 As low as $84.60 -
Yabby Lake Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023Medium red with a tinge of purple and a complex foresty bouquet of sour cherry, undergrowth and leaf-litter, with a hint of five spice. Palate is intense, bright and lively with fleshy richness and very fine, supple tannins in perfect balance with the flavour. Delicious pinot noir. HUON HOOKE, Real Review
2022Pinot noirAustralia441$79.00 As low as $71.10 -
Quealy 'Pobblebonk' 2024Quite possibly the most delicious Pobblebonk to date. Riesling, friulano, pinot grigio and ribolla gialla are the friends, each fermented wild in used French oak, on full solids and later blended. It’s heady with meadow flowers, lemon blossom and hints of lemon verbena, really spicy with nutty, leesy aromas, and the palate is both textural and alive with fine acidity. Neat phenolics add to the pleasure of drinking this. (95) JANE FAULKNER, Halliday Wine Companion
Light to mid straw colour in the glass, the bouquet savoury with some nutty notes possibly from barrel ferment, adding layers to the floral and spicy fruit aromas. Deliciously intense fruit on palate with a touch more dimension than the Quealy pinot grigios. It's truly more than the sum of its parts. A lovely drink, intense, long and harmonious, the finish lip-smackingly dry and appetising. (95), HUON HOOKE, The Real Review
How do you make a melange of fruity, bitter and salty so perfectly? So easygoing, delivering the goods, not stingy on flavour, not pushy with perfume. Just right. Lightly honeyed, with pink rock salt to balance, crunch of pears and cashews, with a cooling aniseed to finish. Textural but smooth. Simply yum. Nailed it. (94), KASIA SOBIESIAK Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front2024Friulano, Pinot Grigio, Ribolla Gialla, Riesling, White BlendAustralia441$35.00 As low as $31.50 -
Quealy Musk Creek Chardonnay 2023There’s so much flavour, detail and complexity within, and yet it feels ethereal and feathery light – a bit of a yin and yang wine in a way. Stone fruit and citrus, especially grapefruit, doused in ginger spice with a refreshing ginger lemon tea, even quinine flavour à la tonic water. Flutters of flinty sulphides, harmonious with exceptional texture via creamy lees, a slip of spicy oak and a finish that stretches to the horizon. (95) JANE FAULKNER, Halliday Wine Companion
It starts quietly. With crunchy quince, umami notes of button mushrooms, oat biscuits and gingerbread, and then other aromas start to spill out – lemon curd, lemon tart with meringue, apples, honey coted nuts. Palate delivers texture and juicy acidity with a pink grapefruit and brown lime finish. It’s full of generous fruit with a mist of citrus essential oils, all in place with a good drive showing an interesting personality. Delicious drinking. (94) KASIA SOBIESIAK, The Wine Front
Bright medium yellow colour with a smoky note on the initial aroma, with nougat, toasted nuts and beeswax, and on the palate, intense lemon/citrus and a hint of honey emerging. It is well concentrated and deep, with brilliant acidity underlining the focused and penetrating fruit flavours. Wonderful chardonnay. (From Main Ridge). (96) Huon Hooke, The Real Review
2023chardonnayAustralia441$43.00 As low as $38.70 -
Quealy Turbul Moscato Giallo 2022Given this producer’s love of Italian white varieties, it was only a matter of time before this dry moscato giallo made it as a single varietal. Previously blended into Lina Lool and the zero sulphur/zero sugar Secco Splendido. This inaugural release is so good. A rose gold, copper-orange hue with lovely clarity and the aromas – just heady. Musk, Turkish delight, rosewater, lemon verbena, lychees and turmeric. It is dry and fresh, with stretchy phenolics adding some grip and give, yet there’s a mouth-watering lemon salt character and the acidity keeps this seemingly light on its feet. Alas, a mere 280 bottles produced. (95) JANE FAULKNER, Halliday Wine Companion
The perfume is just wow. Detailed, tightly packed notes and a tantalising deep golden colour. Scents of grape juice, lychee and roses. It’s honeyed blossoms, golden kiwi, quince and Mirabelles. It flows with a smooth, slightly textural, lightly creamy feel and, most importantly, the balancing sweet aromas bitter phenolic grip of green and yellow citrus in the finale. Pungent but lovely. So much power. Sugar and spice and everything nice. (93) KASIA SOBIEIAK, The Wine Front2024Pinot GrisAustralia441$38.00 As low as $34.20 -
Quealy Feri Maris Pinot Grigio 2024Bright, light yellow colour; fainty nutty toasty aroma overlying honey, talc and pot-pourri. The wine is light and crisp in the mouth, vibrant and refreshing, with lively acidity and lots of energy cutting through the variety's innate richness. A spot-on grigio style. (93) HUON HOOKE, The Real Review2024Pinot GrisAustralia441$40.00 As low as $36.00 -
Yabby Lake Single Vineyard Cuvee Nina Sparkling 2018Traditional method, 47/44% chardonnay/pinot noir with 9% reserve wine from ’12. Three years on lees, dosage 4g/L and disgorged January ‘21. It has the perfect amount of complexity – think brioche with lemon curd with a touch of aldehydes – to the brightness of apple and stone fruit within. While it comes across with a richness of flavour, it’s crisp and refreshingly dry. JANE FAULKNER, James Halliday2018chardonnayAustralia441$55.00 As low as $49.50