REGIONAL ARCHIVE

Home : Regional Archive : Australia : Victoria : Mornington Peninsula

Mornington Peninsula

Introduction
Region Summary
Principal Wine Styles
Regional Best

More information on tourism in Victorian wine regions.

Choose winery:   Select Option B'darra Estate Barak Estate Barrymore Estate Bayview Estate Boneo Plains Box Stallion Brinalon Charlotte's Vineyard Craig Avon Vineyard Darling Park Dromana Estate Dromana Valley Wines Elan Vineyard Eldridge Estate Elgee Park Ermes Estate Foxeys Hangout Hickinbotham Hurley Vineyards Karina Vineyard Kings Creek Winery Kooyong Lavender Bay Lindenderry at Red Hill Little Valley Main Ridge Estate Mantons Creek Vineyard Maritime Estate Merricks Creek Wines Merricks Estate Miceli Montalto Vineyards Moorooduc Estate Morning Cloud Wines Mornington Estate Mount Eliza Estate Myrtaceae Osborns Paringa Estate Phaedrus Estate Poplar Bend Port Phillip Estate Prentice Red Hill Estate Ryland River Schindler Northway Downs Sea Winds Vineyard Silverwood Wines Stonier Wines Stumpy Gully T'Gallant Tanglewood Downs Ten Minutes by Tractor Wine Co The Duke Vineyard The Garden Vineyard Tuck's Ridge Turramurra Estate Vale Vineyard Villa Primavera Vintina Estate Wildcroft Estate Willow Creek Winbirra Vineyard Wyldcroft Estates

Introduction

Contrary to most accounts, vineyards did exist on the Mornington Peninsula (chiefly in the Hastings area) in the nineteenth century, albeit on a small scale. They disappeared without trace, and the next attempt to establish a vineyard - by the Seabrook family at Arthurs Seat at the end of the 1940s - likewise faded away after several trial vintages. A chance lunchtime conversation between David Wynn and Baillieu Myer at Elgee Park in 1971 ignited the flame once more, this time to burn brightly. Wynn told Myer of the Seabrook experiment, and expressed regret that it had lapsed. Baillieu Myer resolved to establish a vineyard, which he did the following year.

There are now 110 vineyards and over 40 wineries (including those whose wines are produced by contract winemakers), and the Peninsula is here to stay. Moreover, as the link between tourism and wine continues to strengthen, so does the underlying business base of the region. While the Mornington Peninsula winemakers may not welcome the idea, there are parallels to be drawn with the Hunter Valley and its symbiotic relationship with Sydney. For the Peninsula is Melbourne's foremost holiday playground, its foremost weekend retreat. This is both bane and blessing: on the one hand it provides a populous and active local clientele; on the other hand it places inexorable pressure on land use and hence land prices.

The net result is a patchwork quilt of small wineries and even smaller vineyards, and the absence of larger wine producers. In some regions this can result in winemaking practices (and wines) which might charitably be described as rustic, less charitably as downright unpleasant. No such problem exists in the Mornington Peninsula: the affluence of the majority (though by no means all) of the vignerons means they have not hesitated to spend the money necessary to acquire the human and material resources to maximise wine quality and guarantee consistency.

It has also resulted in the establishment of numerous attractive cellar-door facilities and many winery restaurants and cafes. The sheer beauty of the softly rolling hillsides, the green grass of much of the year, the groves of native and imported trees and the sweeping sea vistas are a perfect backdrop for visitor or resident alike. Fortuitously, too, concentrated urban development is largely restricted to the seaside suburbs and towns, leaving the large tracts of the centre of the Peninsula unscarred.

by James Halliday