Red wines fermenting at Scotchmans Hill winery in the Yarra Valley, Australia.
Where the wild winds of the Bass Strait pound and spray the rugged Victorian coastline, dedicated and passionate winemakers are producing some of the country’s finest and most elegant Pinot Noirs. Head a little inland, and the Pinot Noir is ripe, bold and immediately satisfying.
From the cool, maritime climate of the coast to the milder, warmer climate of its interior, Victoria offers some of the best Australian Pinot Noirs from regions like Geelong, Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley and Gippsland.
Tasting Pinot Noir from the barrel at Provenance winery in Victoria, where the variety demands its highest average price in Australia. Credit: SHERPA Projects Pty Ltd for Wine Victoria.
Geelong: Aromatic Pinots from Victoria’s second city
The second biggest city in Victoria, Geelong was a major manufacturing and port city, booming in the 1800s as the gateway to Victoria’s gold fields. It is also well known as the jumping-off point for the Great Ocean Road.
To the south-west of Melbourne, Geelong is one of Australia’s cool climate wine regions. 466ha of vines are split between the three sub-zones of Bellarine Peninsula, Moorabool Valley and Surfcoast/Otways. Here, viticulture is strongly influenced by Port Phillip Bay and the Bass Strait, while cool and dry autumns help to produce intensely aromatic wines with serious concentration and colour.
Uniquely, all the wineries in the region are family-owned so visitors are likely to meet the people behind the wines at the cellar door. Some of the best-known wineries in the region include the highly rated Provenance Wines, Scotchmans Hill and Jack Rabbit.
Provenance Wines in Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula produces some of the region’s most highly rated Pinot Noir wines. Credit: SHERPA Projects Pty Ltd for Wine Victoria.
Mornington Peninsula: The fine wine region on Melbourne’s doorstep
The Mornington Peninsula, a key destination for wine tourism in Australia, lies only an hour’s drive south of Melbourne. Its proximity to the state capital is certainly a drawcard but the high-quality wines produced in the region are an attraction in themselves: the region’s Pinot Noir demands the variety’s highest average price in Australia.
The green hills and valleys of Mornington enjoy a true maritime climate through the influence of coastal winds from the Bass Strait, Port Phillip Bay and Western Port Bay. The wines here tend to vary from elegant and refined, to bold and structured, but the common thread is a clearly defined varietal character.
Over half of the region is planted with Pinot Noir, which totals 9% of Australia’s Pinot Noir vineyards. There are 60 producers in the region including pioneering Crittenden Estate, the highly acclaimed Kooyong and Stonier, and the very popular Ten Minutes by Tractor and Yabby Lake.
Picking Pinot Noir grapes at the renowned De Bortoli winery in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. Credit: SHERPA Projects Pty Ltd for Wine Victoria.
Yarra Valley: The ultimate getaway for classy, lighter Pinots
Another region just an hour’s drive from Melbourne, the Yarra Valley is north-east of the state’s capital and is a well-visited weekend destination for wine-lovers and foodies from Victoria and further afield.
Home to the state’s first vineyard, planted in 1838, 80 producers are spread across five sub-zones: Healesville, Coldstream, Yarra Glen, Seville and Lilydale. The region is diverse in altitude, varying between 50 – 430m, and is one of Australia’s outstanding cool-climate regions.
Yarra Valley Pinot Noir tends to offer fragrant and perfumed wines, often lighter in body than wines from other parts of the state, with a silky, velvety texture. Many of the producers regularly open their cellar doors to visitors, and include famous names like Yering Station, Oakridge Wines and De Bortoli, as well as the very popular Mac Forbes and Giant Steps.
The Church House Gourmet…
Source : https://www.decanter.com.master.public.keystone-prod-eks-euw1.futureplc.engineering/sponsored/victorias-pinot-noir-up-close-541230/
