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.
The Pinot Coast extends along 750km of Victoria’s southern beaches where the wines reflect the cool, maritime climate. Known for their outstanding surf beaches and seafood, as well as stunning natural beauty, the coastal regions of Victoria are also home to a panoply of cellar-doors where you can savour local wines and produce.
The region’s Pinot Noir demands the variety’s highest average price in Australia. Credit: SHERPA Projects Pty Ltd for Wine Victoria.
Victoria’s second city
The second biggest city in Victoria, Geelong is also one of the three regions making up the state’s Pinot Coast. As a major manufacturing and port city, it boomed in the 1800s as the gateway to Victoria’s gold fields, and it is well known as the jumping-off point for the Great Ocean Road.
To the south-west of Melbourne, it 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 you 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.
Terrindah Estate on Victoria’s Pinot Coast, which extends along 750km of the state’s southern beaches. Credit: SHERPA Projects Pty Ltd for Wine Victoria.
The fine wine region on Melbourne’s doorstep
The Mornington Peninsula, Australia’s number one wine tourism destination, 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. With high summer humidity, enough rain in winter and spring, and a late, gentle ripening period in autumn, the region is well suited to Pinot Noir. 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 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 Yabbie Lake.
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