Mornington & Yarra Valley Trip Jan 2018
Tasted Wednesday, March 31, 2021 - Friday, April 2, 2021 by VinCapitan with 121 views
Introduction
Three of us Sydney guys decided what better way to spend the long weekend than by getting down south and hitting up a couple of famed areas in south eastern Victoria. Flights arranged, itineraries set and we were on our way.
(Notes taken briefly and quickly as the wines came through - scores based on my preference and based generally on flavour profile and balance)
Following a breakfast whipped up of a broken Mornington duck egg omelette, smoked trout and dill bits, bacon and sourdough, we were on our way.
Flight 1 - Yabby Lake (11 Notes)
doors opened 10:00 by us. Hosted by Nigel who took the time to show us through the range. Great host
A pretty impressive cellar door experience.
Flight 2 - Moorooduc Estate (9 Notes)
These guys blew me away with their 2015 Pinot offerings when I tried the, at Pinotpalooza this year. It was great to get to the kitch cellar door and try the wines on site, and meet the resident peacock.
A magnificent tasting. Rip roaring booze. Great chats with CD help Linda and owner Richard. Jump on the Moorooduc train!!
Flight 3 - Kooyong Estate (7 Notes)
A slick operation, lunch was in full swing at their hatted restaurant. Got an enthusiastic CD staffer. Flash cellar door.
Couldn't help but feel a little rushed here. A big operation, many people in the cd. Was a bit of a bang em out, move em on type feel. Decent wines, but quite an impersonal experience
Flight 4 - Paringa Estate (12 Notes)
Another busy functioning cellar door. Cosy, 12 tables full for lunch. Loud with the busy tasting bench prectically spilling in to the restaurant. Wouldn't have been happy if I was there for lunch. Hosted by Bruce, a softly spoken Canuck who had his spiel for every wine down pat.
The whites really struggled here. The Paringa Shiraz was a cracker.
Flight 5 - Ocean Eight (6 Notes)
A picturesque cellar door at the head of a valley overlooking beautiful mature trees as far as the eye can see. CD and winery looked to be in an old stable. 6 wines on tasting.
Wouldn't have any issue having any of these in the cellar. Ripping stuff across the board.
Flight 6 - Main Ridge Estate (4 Notes)
Beautiful chilled out cellar door. Kids in the garden eating and drinking. Wonderful wines!
Flight 7 - Dinner at Ten Minutes by Tractor (6 Notes)
There was a Rotgen GG in here and a Russian River Merlot too that i didn't get the producer for. Tasty meal and great attentive hosting.
Flight 8 - Seville Estate (10 Notes)
Day 2 saw us up early doors, the two chefs back on the griddle. This time, we had to knock off the remainder of the kg of bacon that was bought the day prior, more rich Mornington scrambled eggs with smoked trout and smoked eel, and then bacon, bacon fried bread and some fresh OJ. Just about knocked the hangover over.
On the road we went for the hr long trip up the M3 to the Yarra.
First stop Seville Estate where we met with a couple of Melbourne wine loving fellas Kamal and tblenner and handed over $20 each for the tasting.
The cellar door got pretty busy with a couple of tours entering as we were going through the flight which meant the cd manager racing around a bit and not giving us too much attention, we were left to fend a little for ourselves which was no issue. Lovely outlook and a good cellar door. Decent wines too.
Flight 9 - Thousand Candles (9 Notes)
In to the cars and off we went to Thousand Candles. Yep, that one. The one that entered the market all guns blazing with a shit hot team, a marketing spiel as long as your arm and a wine from a terribly wet, cold and difficult vintage. 2011, the first wine off the rank costing a mere $100 a throw, just because. Followed by big, chest beating noise. But, as many are aware it quickly turned in to a shit show and ... we all know what happened from there. The vinomofo debacle, staff departures and a sour taste left in the mouths of consumers. The tall poppy had been cut.
Back to ground zero where a slightly different direction ensued. A direction overseen by viticulturalist Stuart Proud. Stu carries the burden of the previous false start on his sleeve. Humble, honest and with great integrity. A bloke, who spent two hours talking through the mistakes made in the past, and how he plans to take thousand Candles in the direction it was always intended to go. The ethos remains the same, the dedication to the vineyard remains the same but there are no bells and whistles. Just honest and unbelievable wines that speak of a place, the Thousand Candles place.
The vineyard 'where all the magic happens' is overseen by the entire 1000C staff, three viticulturalists. This is where the toil will invariably be rewarded by the fruit that is picked from the vines. 'Making the wine is the easy bit' says Stu. There is no winemaker. Stu does that himself. And the marketing. Almost a one man show.
As we stood on the hill overlooking the vines, his dog Albie running around in circles chasing flies, you could sense the winds of change were in the air.
What an amazing tasting, sat in the house on a big long table. Great and lively discussion, some interesting thoughts on viticulture (He's definitely in the follow the moon camp) and I can safely say, if this is what following the lunar calendar does to produce grapes for wines as good as these, then I'm sold. **wines not released until later in the year** when they are, back up the truck!
Flight 10 - Coldstream Hills (11 Notes)
After the highlight that was 1000C, we were off to see old mate James Halliday's place at Coldstream Hills. And ... didn't they love dropping a bit of 'James' into the chats. We were hosted by young blonde fella (name escapes me) who enthusiastically showed us through the wines with good information and not over the top like some cd staffers are
A good experience here and some pretty smart gear. It's on the tour bus map, so was swamped down one end with two groups.
Flight 11 - Yarra Yerring (17 Notes)
A quick drive down the road to the highly anticipated Yarra Yering. In to the car park we pulled, boot opened and the remaining 500g of bacon was consumed in some bacon sarnies.
Sooooo... Yarra Yering. I can confirm the 2015s are pretty bloody great wines. As for the rest of it.. five 2011s, 3 oxidised/flat/faulty and one corked. That is half the list being sub par. I've got no issues having a faulty wine at CD, but when the staff are a little dismissive 'it wasn't like that this morning' or 'I don't think there's anything wrong with it' or 'it was just the vintage', making excuses for clearly dead wines was enough.
Why wouldn't they want to show the best examples of the wines they have at their optimum, rather than this vintage affected garbage?
No doubt they make incredible wines - Sarah is a master, but this particular CD experience fell a little flat.
Flight 12 - Bobar (6 Notes)
Waking up bleary eyed and heavy headed after last night's festivities we packed and jumped in the car - which was more like driving around in a small tank - and headed to the Beechworth Bakery on the main drag for some breakfast pies which went down a treat. After knocking them off we made up our way to the far reaches of the Yarra for a visit to:
Tom and Sally Belford of Bobar Wines . Generally non interventionalist, letting the grapes run free. Limited pumping and plunging and for the most part fermented on skins to created light funk in most of their wines. Both Tom and Sal are enthused about what they're doing and the vision of Bobar. What they want to do and where they want to be. Wonderful people making wonderful wine.
All wines interesting and excellent. Acid treatment is quite phenomenal in all of the wines, atypical. Quality. Another winery where we went in with no real expectation and came away blown away by the quality of the wines and the generosity of the people. Sat at a long bench for over two hours, sal and tom bouncing off each other's passion and fervour for the wines they're making, talk of their travels and the obscure folk in obscure places making obscure wines and trying to replicate them in their own way. A winery to keep an eye on, and certainly a winery I'll support. Mum and dad operation, great people.
Flight 13 - Mac Forbes (15 Notes)
Running back to town and an appointment at Mac Forbes' new tasting room, The Graceburn Room, just off the main drag and a quick run through the wines, some interesting stuff coming from Mac. In particular the EB (experimental batch) wines. It was a bit of a rushed tasting as we received pours in to a glass to share, so it was whipped around fairly quickly. Notes are very brief, trying to keep up with the wines coming around.
High quality wines no doubt. Mac was going to try to make it, but couldn't get there. The tasting was a bit of a blur. Perhaps after spending quality time at Bobar and then to the shop was a bit if a shock. Some great gear though.
Flight 15 - Luke Lambert (6 Notes)
Nearly broken, we sauntered back to the car and on to our last appointment with Luke Lambert - a 20 minute drive from Central Yarra, north. We all felt like we'd gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson by this stage and the meter was nearing empty. Luke is a quiet guy, very humble but very focussed. The map of the Yarra on the wall was hand drawn in chalk. An oval, with a blue squiggly line cutting through representing the Yarra river and a few crosses showing the location of the vineyards he sources the grapes to make the magic with. He had just woken from a snooze in the winery with his young daughter. That made 4 bleary headed and bloody eyed people in the room having a chat, with the stopwatch on us having to get back to the airport for a 7pm flight out. He has just purchased a 4acre block just out of the Yarra where he will be planting Nebbiolo and only Nebbiolo. His passion. Given the quality of what he is putting in bottle these days I can only wish him the very best and hope the site proves fruitful (excuse the pun) and produces brilliant fruit for him to work with.
A shame we didn't get more time with Luke. Would have been great to sit and chat, but had to make the airport run. I figure though at the end of the weekend where the average temperature was in the high 30s, we were all cooked.
Closing
So, there you have it. A massive weekend. 170 or so wines tasted across 14 wineries. Two hatted restaurants eaten at and about 500kms covered. Bloody brilliant!
Would we do it again? Absolutely, BUT - would concentrate on the smaller makers, those that can spend the time with you and that have the passion and drive for what is in bottle. The big corporate cellar doors are a little vacuous and are more of a production line, in and out. Give the spiel and move on. We'd also be less ambitious in where we were going. 4 wineries a day is probably a good number. Particularly if sitting down with the makers, or the owners and getting the low down.
Highlights/Best Tastings - Thousand Candles, Bobar, Moorooduc and Luke Lambert - Primarily because of the quality of the wines and the great people behind the brands.
Best wine - 2017 Thousand Candles Pinot Noir, 2015 Moorooduc Garden Pinot, 2017 Thousand Candles Syrah, 2017 Bobar Royal Chardonnay and the 2015 Paringa Estate 'Paringa' Shiraz.
Things to note. Buy 2015 Yarra Valley wines with confidence, particularly the dry reds. 2017 will be a cracking vintage also.
2012 Yabby Lake Vineyard Cuvée Nina 89 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
light lean lemon limes. Some biscuity brioche, some general cream. Dry, Sharp and lean acidity. Nice gear. Toothpaste infuenced.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2017 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Gris Single Vineyard 89 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
pear, little white of nectarine, white flowers. Nice mouthfeel. A little soft.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Yabby Lake Vineyard Chardonnay Single Vineyard 91 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
toasty oak, grapefruit and white peach, some gentle cream, acidity in spades. Will be serious, some lemon pith on the back.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Red Claw Pinot Noir 90 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
crunchy red fruit, some strawberry lift, and red cherry. Drying tannin, and some good stalk use.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir Single Vineyard 93 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
deeper and darker cherry fruits, spicebox, more serious, cinnamon, sweeter fruit and nicer balance. This is in the slot for me as a Pinot
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir Bernard 114 Block 3 91 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
red cherry, black fruit and some stalk. spicy forest floor with a zip of smartness
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir Bernard 115 Block 3 91 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
again red cherry, light cola intervention, spicy red fruit, cranberry? Mulch goodness, a bit of burn
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir Abel Block 3 92 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
red earth, red cherry, fruit plays second fiddle to the earth. Poppy grape seed tannin
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir G5V15 - Block 5 92 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
running in to darker cherry, light cinnamon sticks, great fruit weight that shows restrained power. Got that forest floor thin, but not intrusive. Well balanced!
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir D4V2 - Block 8 91 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
red cherries fruit, forest, pot pourri, heightened tannin and acid.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2016 Yabby Lake Vineyard Pinot Noir Mother Vine 6 - Block 5 92 Points
Australia, Victoria, Port Phillip, Mornington Peninsula
(3/31/2021)
black cherry spicebox, red brick, light and lean with a little hole in the middle.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue