One of the great benefits of working in the wine world is the luxury of being invited to many exclusive events that occur around the world. I was fortunate enough to attend the two-and-a half day Pinot Celebration held in the Morning Peninsula of Victoria, Australia. After the lengthy flight over from the States and into Melbourne, my co-travellers and I were shuttled down to the Cape Schank Resort where the event would occur.
Travelling with me were two wine buyers from Seattle, Dawn and Jens, as well as some local friends from Pasadena, Russ and Marie. With a little downtime after arriving and before our first event, we sampled some local Victorian beers in the lounge. I then quickly decided to take a hike down to the ocean, despite the fact there was no direct path there. After an hour of trudging through underbrush, I made it to the water, only to get completely lost in the woods on the way back. Eventually coming up on a paved road and barely making it home in time to catch the bus to dinner, I was ready to dive into some wine.
Our first evening was spent at Ten Minutes by Tractor with Kate and Rick. They were kind enough to host us for dinner at the winery restaurant. I did not take detailed notes on these wines as it was an informal event, but I can tell you that this is a winery to be watched, should the wines ever make it out of Australia. They own three vineyards in the area (which are ten minutes apart by tractor…) and bottle Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from them. I noticed a Pinot Gris on an order sheet as well, but it was sold out and not poured. These wines are controlled, elegant and feature wonderful acidity and cool climate character one wouldn’t expect to see in Australia. In addition, they poured some wines from Moorooduc, where Rick also makes wine. I actually preferred the Moorooduc wines overall to the Ten X wines as they were a little more catered to the California palate with more prevalent fruit. I would also be remiss not to mention that the food was quite good here as well.
Getting up bright and early the next morning, we entered the Cape Schank Resort banquet room where we would be spending the next two days. To be quite frank, this was a challenging way to start our first trip to Australia. Being locked in a banquet room on a resort for two days straight was slightly frustrating, but ultimately, a good way to prime the palate for the wines and places we would be experiencing over the following days.
Sparing you the play-by-play, the Pinot Celebration was a series of seminars, hosted by Burghound Allen Meadows and Ben Edwards. The seminars included flights of Mornington Peninsula Pinots by vintage, in context with other growing regions in Australia, wines with some bottle age, as well as in context with Pinots from around the world. The wines were generally poured blind. In addition, two very prominent Burgundy producers were in attendance to show flights of their wines as well. Christian Serafin and Etienne de Montille were flown in to provide words of wisdom and commentary on the up and coming region of Mornington Peninsula with 1400 years of growing experience under their belts in Burgundy.
On the whole, the Pinot Noirs of the Mornington Peninsula ARE world class. Light in body, nervy acidity, slightly herbaceous and all set on a frame of clean red fruits. They appear to have some potential for aging, although there are no examples as of yet since it is a budding region with no history. There is actually minerality in these wines, which is generally an unexpected trait from the new world.
There is a terrific sense of community down on the Peninsula (as it is locally put). Promoting the region is of more importance than focusing on the competitive end of things. Wines from outside of Mornington Peninsula, and Australia, are few and far between.
This focus on their own wines also works to a fault. Some of the winemakers and owners were violently harsh on wines from other regions. In particular, Julian Alcorso from Tasmania commented that he would rather dump 100 cases of the Faively Latricieres Chambertin 2004 Grand Cru down the drain than have to drink it, due to some Brettanomyces. This opened a heated debate about Brett and, ultimately, revealed a case of “frame error” present in the Australian palate. Some of the vocal Aussies eluded that heavy amounts of oak, as used by many in California, and cases of Brett, noticed sometimes in France, were unacceptable and made for awful wines. One writer went so far as to say the Faively would be best served with a “cherry and feces pie”.
Thankfully, Etienne de Montille spoke during our final seminar and brought everything back into perspective. With great eloquence, he encouraged growers to focus on their vineyards and make the best wine they can possibly make. “I want the right to be wrong”, he said, in regards to experimentation. He is a profoundly interesting personality and the wines were, obviously, top notch.
The pervading message that kept ringing true to me was one spoken by Allen Meadows. “What does your vineyard have to say?”, he asked. It’s a very interesting idea that kept recurring. Does your wine taste of your place or of your own hand? I hazard to say that in California, we are very self-focused and our tendency to make ourselves known may sometimes work against the sense of place. In that way, the Mornington Peninsula winemakers have got it right. They are very focused on their vineyards and allowing them to shine. I hope they continue moving forward in this fashion and do not fall prey to the critical influence as their neighbors did in South Australia.
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