Avani
Shashi and Davendra Singh have been Mornington Peninsula restaurateurs for some 30 years, with their consuming interest in wine leading to the purchase of an established vineyard back in 1998. Shashi took on study at Charles Sturt around the same time, finishing with a double degree, in both viticulture and oenology. Phillip Jones was engaged to make the wines, with Shashi taking up a role at Jones’ legendary Gippsland winery, Bass Phillip, where she stayed for eight years. At the urging of Jones, Shashi focused on converting to organic viticulture, and later to biodynamic practices (not certified but faithfully applied). Unusually for the region, she also invested exclusively in syrah, grafting over all their existing vines. The wines from those vines are made onsite by Shashi in a traditional lo-fi way, with no additives bar minimal sulphur at bottling, and nothing is excluded, being un-fined and unfiltered. They’re typically fragrant, savoury and quite low in alcohol. The Singhs also have a second label, Amrit, which is made from fruit sourced across the Peninsula. Those wines are made with the same minimalist approach, but the range expands into skin-contact whites and a trio of classic takes on the Peninsula heroes: chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot gris.
Garagiste
After healthy stints overseas in the Northern Rhône and the USA, at cult pinot producer Rhys, as well as alongside Rick McIntyre at Moorooduc Estate, Barnaby Flanders went out on his own with Garagiste Vintners. Working from his home vineyard in Merricks, Flanders also sources from Tuerong, Balnarring and Red Hill to make site-specific wines, as well as regional blends. Chardonnay and pinot noir are unsurprisingly the lead varieties, but Flanders also makes a broader varietal range under the more everyday Le Stagiaire label, as well as a series of whole-bunch fermented white varieties under the Côtier imprint. He even dabbles further afield, with co-labs with Jane Eyre in Burgundy.
W: garagiste.com.au
Kerri Greens
Tom McCarthy and Lucas Blanck have some fair winemaking history, with family ties in the wine game from both near and very far. McCarthy is the son of Peninsula legends Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy, while Lucas Blanck’s family connection is in Alsace, France, where his family estate is the celebrated Domaine Paul Blanck. The pair worked together at Quealy Winemakers before taking on the management of a Balnarring vineyard that was planted solely to chardonnay in 1982. Two years after taking on the site, their Kerri Greens label was launched in 2015. Another two vineyards followed in 2016, with the Red Hill property on Paringa Road becoming the site of their cellar door and winery. All vineyards are held under long-term leases by the pair and are farmed in a sustainable way employing only organic sprays. The wines skip through Peninsula classics, as well as pluck strings from Blanck’s heritage, with a riesling, gewürztraminer and late harvest gewürztraminer and pinot gris blend. Winemaking is traditional, lo-fi but classic, with low sulphur additions and no fining or filtering whenever possible.
Ocean Eight
The Aylward family had already made a considerable mark on the Mornington Peninsula before founding Ocean Eight. Their first venture was the ambitious Kooyong, which had established itself as an iconic label by the time they sold, and it continues to be. Ocean Eight (a golfing reference, in case you’re wondering) became a canvas for a young Mike Aylward to express his winemaking style. Pinot and chardonnay are their strong suits, with the latter particularly so. Both their fine and racy ‘Verve’ and more opulent ‘Grande’ wines have become modern classics, as has their pinot gris, which was the first Ocean Eight wine made, in 2004.
P: (03) 5989 6471
Onannon
Onannon is the personal outlet for three top young makers, Will Byron, Sam Middleton and Kaspar Hermann. The three all have pretty significant day jobs at Stonier, Mount Mary and Rochford/Toolangi, respectively, but find time to turn out wines both from their home vineyard in Red Hill (2 hectares planted to pinot noir, MV6 and 777), as well as across the Peninsula and further afield in Gippsland. The trio have farmed their home site since 2014, and make a single site bottling from it, as well as it contributing to a regional blend. A Tuerong single site chardonnay, regional chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot gris and shiraz make up the fine and classically built Mornington range, while pinot gris gets the full skin treatment and is bottled with no SO2 for their most experimental wine, ‘The Level’.
Polperro
Sam Coverdale has come a long way in relatively short time. For a young maker who a little over a decade ago was sourcing his fruit from vineyards in New South Wales and Victoria, to owning and operating a lauded winery, as well as one of the Peninsula’s most loved dining and accommodation venues is no small achievement. Coverdale started Even Keel in 2006, with wines coming from the Canberra District and Tumbarumba, as well as Mornington. He still sources from further north, but the focus is firmly on the three Polperro sites, Landaviddy Lane in Shoreham and Mill Hill and Talland Hill, both in Red Hill. Coverdale farms using organic and biodynamic principles (no synthetic chemicals are used), with long term relationships with the vineyards he sources from. The Polperro wines are from the home sources as well as from some growers, with the top wines carrying vineyard designates. The Even Keel range is all from north of the border. The style here is classic and perfumed, with elegance and purity watchwords.
Some More of the Best
- Allies
- Avani Wines
- Baillieu
- Barmah Park
- Dexter Wines
- Dromana Estate
- Elan Vineyard & Winery
- Eldridge Estate of Red Hill
- Elgee Park
- Foxey’s Hangout
- Handpicked Wines
- Hickinbotham of Dromana
- Hurley Vineyard
- Lindenderry at Red Hill
- Mantons Creek Estate
- Mattara
- Portsea Estate
- Prancing Horse Estate
- Principia
- Pt. Leo Estate
- Quealy Winemakers
- Rahona Valley Vineyard
- Red Hill Estate
- Red Ridge Vineyard
- Scorpo Wines
- Staindl Wines
- Ten Minutes by Tractor
- Tucks
- Willow Creek Vineyard
- Yabby Lake Vineyard
- Yal Yal Estate
