Cool-climate maritime charm
The Mornington Peninsula landscape with its gently undulating hills, rolling green pastures and tranquil vineyards is as stunning as the range of wines produced by its wineries. Wine production in this region dates to 1886, when a wine from won an honourable mention in the Intercontinental Exhibition in London. The modern revival of the region began in earnest in 1972 when a small group of aspiring vignerons recognised the dormant potential of the Mornington Peninsula for producing high quality, cool climate varieties.
Since then the region has built a global reputation for producing a range of fine wines, complimenting perfectly its long-standing reputation as a seaside playground thanks to its beaches, calm bays, natural beauty and world-class golf courses. Surrounded by Bass Strait, Port Phillip Bay and Western Port Bay, the Mornington Peninsula is one of Australia’s true maritime wine regions.
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This map is not an accurate representation of the regional GI boundaries. Please click
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Mornington Peninsula snapshot
The predominance of the surrounding water, and the cooling winds that blow up from the south, east and west, combine to give the region a wonderful climate that makes it ideal for growing the noble, late ripening varietals like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. For what is a relatively small growing area there are a surprising array of soils to be found: from mottled yellow duplex and red volcanic soils to sandier soils around the Peninsula's geographic centre of Moorooduc. This delightful diversity of soils, a microclimates and the cool, ocean informed climate creates a complex network of microsites capable of producing famed Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to high quality Shiraz to Arneis.
Chardonnay, possibly more than any variety, benefits from the extraordinary natural acidity that the cool Mornington Peninsula climate can produce and accentuates the restraint and tight structure for which the region is renowned. While for Pinot Noir there is an enormous range of styles to the region’s flagship variety, from a haunting elegance and lingering intensity through to the more complex, structured and rich expression of the land. For all varieties grown here, the constant factor is the clear varietal character which is clearly pronounced throughout the different sub regions of the Peninsula.
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