Mornington/Yarra Trip - Day 1 Mornington

[pc79]

Three of us Sydney guys, drhesh, krusty and myself 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, itineries 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 by chez Hesh and chez le krust of a broken Mornington duck egg omelette, smoked trout and dill bits, bacon and sourdough, we were on our way.

Yabby Lake - doors opened 10:00 by us. Hosted by Nigel who took the time to show us through the range. Great host
2012 Cuvée Noir - light lean lemon limes. Some biscuity brioche, some general cream. Dry, Sharp and lean acidity. Nice gear. Toothpaste infuenced. 90
2017 Pinot Gris - pear, little white of nectarine, white flowers. Nice mouthfeel. A little soft. 89
2016 Chardonnay - toasty oak, grapefruit and white peach, some gentle cream, acidity in spades. Will be serious, some lemon pith on the back. 91
2015 Block 6 Chardonnay - lemons and limes, white nectarine, almond meal, whips of sulphur smoke, lightly fruited but power through the palate. Young, needs loans of time 91
2016 red claw Pinot - crunchy red fruit, some strawberry lift, and red cherry. Drying tannin, and some good stalk use. 90
2016 Pinot - deeper and darker cherry fruits, spicebox, more serious, cinnamon, sweeter fruit and nicer balance. This is in the slot for me as a Pinot 93 buy
Then a real interesting Segway. 6 pinots, made from individual blocks on the property out of the various Pinot clones.
2016 single Bernard 114 block 3 - red cherry, black fruit and some stalk. spicy forest floor with a zip of smartness 91
2016 single Bernard 115 block 3 - again red cherry, light cola intervention, spicy red fruit, cranberry? Mulch goodness, a bit of burn 91
2016 Abel block 3 - red earth, red cherry, fruit plays second fiddle to the earth. Poppy grape seed tannin 92
2016 gv15 block 5 - 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! 92
2016 D4V2 - red cherries fruit, forest, pot pourri, tannin and acid. 91
2016 MV 6 - black cherry spicebox, red brick, light and lean with a little hole in the middle. 92

A pretty impressive cellar door experience.

Next stop just up and around the corner at
Mooroduc Estate
These guys blew me away with their 2015 Pinot offerings when I tried them at Pinotpalooza this year. It was great to get to the kitch cellar door and try the wines on site.
2015 Pinot Gris - smoke and almonds, crushed pear, but spicy goodness 90
2015 Chardonnay - 100%malo get that yellow nectarine and creamy butter. Light lemon fruit, some struck match 92 buy
2016 Robinson Vineyard Chardonnay - Yummy clean mineral, clean and grapefruit. Great acid drive, some light almond meal 92
2016 Macintyre Chardonnay - white peach, cashew, Juicy fruit, bit more fruit in it than Robinson, 92
2015 Estate Pinot - smokey black cherry, clean cinnamon spice, dark stems, black pepper, tannin flow runs and grabs. Balance 92
2015 Robinson Pinot - red cherry spectrum, some gentle herbals and light mint flows, a splash of strawberry, gentle in and gentle out 93
2015 McIntyre Pinot - red cherry and blackberry, almost some cigar leaf in there, cinnamon and sasparella, and 93
2015 Garden Pinot - red cherry stem, red fruits, crunchy herbal play, some light mulchiness, bloody great balance. Everything I want in a Pinot! 95
2014 McIntyre Shiraz - blackberry, black earth, some black olive, stemmy wise, exceptional. 93

A magnificent tasting. Rip roaring booze. Great chats with CD help Linda and owner Richard. Jump on the Moorooduc train!!

Kooyong/Port Philip Estate was next on the list. A slick operation, lunch was in full swing at their hatted restaurant. Got an enthusiastic CD staffer Will (with a 'W' (in joke)). Flash and brash.
2017 Quartier Pinot Gris - sweet pear, gooseberry, white flower, some stoenfruit simple - 88
2016 Clonale Chardonnay - nectarine, green melon, struck match, light and lean. Acid a bit pokey. 90
2005 Faultline Chardonnay - honeysuckle, creamed oats, peaches, marzipan, quite lose, but interesting. Won't hold for much longer. 91
2005 Farrago Chardonnay - more focus, lemon some, honey suckle, almond meal. Again, losing its way a little. 91
2015 Kooyong Pinot - smoke and matchsticks, bright red fruits, dark earth nice wine 91
2014 Kooyong Pinot - more stem, smoke and black cherry, crushed antsy, black earth herbal, mulch. Smoky spice. 91
2015 Haven Pinot - red cherry, light spice, a really gentle feminine, lovely gear! 93
2014 Ferrous Pinot - black cherry, rust, rustic, rose stems, dark fruit, great stuff 93 buy
2015 Serene Shiraz - roasted green capsicum, black fruits, green olive, very herbal but excellent fruit weight to balance the greenery

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.

Next was lunch. After the massively rich breakfast, why not hit up Red Gum BBQ. Two beef short ribs, three Pork ribs, half a chook, some Mac n cheese and beef brisket chips and a couple of beers later we rolled out of there and on to Paringa Estate.

Paringa Estate
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,
2017 Pinot Gris - smoke and pear, white flower, mineral. Decent. But not my cup 89
2016 Viognier - racy acidity, but glycerol mouthfeel round grapefruit and lemons plus a hit of apricot. 88
2016 peninsula Chardonnay - steely mineral, tart, lemons and flint, sour, focus, acid, light. 88
2016 Estate Chardonnay - white flower, white green peaches, sulphur smell, match, vanilla, rubber and preserved lemon 89
2016 the Paringa Chardonnay - struck match, got some butter cream, but lemon tart and preserved lemon again. Not my bag. Best of the lot 90
2016 Peninsula Pinot - kirsch, liquor chocolate cherry, strawberry runs on a bed of thorned spice 90
2011 Estate Pinot - black cherry plum, savoury Lavender earth and some decent acidity, black tea tannin swallows the wine as it loses fruit drive toward the end. Could just fall away in to nothingness in a couple of years. Drink now. 89
2014 Estate Pinot - big black cherried thing, cinnamon spice, some tar and a whip of red florals and white pepper spice. 91
2015 The Paringa Pinot - lovely line of ripe cherrry, vanilla and cinnamon spice that gets swamped by the fruit. Lovely mouthfeel and tannin flow that runs through, great balance and texture 93
2014 Estate Shiraz - black plum, gamey, black pepper spice, bay leaf, herbs. Tannin present, pleasant grippy. Nice wine 91
2015 The Paringa Shiraz - plum, black cherry, clove, spicy oak, with bitter dark chocolate and black pepper. runs of acid and throws some lovely tannin work. Belting wine!! 95 buy
2016 Peninsula Shiraz - black plum, black cherry, spicy white pepper, smashable, tannin large and a bit clunky. Bistro wine. 90

The whites really struggled here. The Paringa Shiraz was a cracker. At $80 though, would need to be.

Shuffled on out of there, still full of smoked meat goodness and on to Ocean Eight.

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. Only 6 wines on tasting.
2017 Pinot Gris - gooseberry, lychee, pear and some orange flower. Some residual sugar but cleans itself up beautifully - bloody good 93 buy
2016 tardive Pinot Gris - lemon/orange lolly, pear again but has a more serious undertone. Finishes sweet yellow flowers and some lime flint. Bit round, 90
2015 Verve Chardonnay - lean austere, a lick of metal, almond meal, lemon pith and light bitterness at the end 91
2014 Grande Chardonnay - ooh yeah, rich, yellow flowers, some butter and almond meal, yellow peach, brilliant. 92
2015 Pinot - bright Crimson fruit, red cherry cranberry, crunchy business. Spice, some autumn leaves. Great, Lovely Pinot 93 buy
2013 Aylward Pinot - black cherry, has 1% jersey caramel, gets a flow of bottle green and maroon colours, lovely dense, complex wine. Flows of spice and fruit, serious thing 93 buy

Wouldn't have any issue having any of these in the cellar. Ripping stuff across the board.

Getting late in the day, we whizzed on to Main Ridge.
2015 Chardonnay - some reductive almond meal, white peach and some sulphur. Grows on the palate, to reveal more ripe peaches and 93
2016 Acre Pinot - serious wine. Lighter black cherry, some dark stem, Rose perfume, red flowers. whacks of balance. Long and strong. The palate belies the beauty of the nose. Power 94
2016 1/2 Acre Pinot - black cherry, dark fruits, spicebox, bold and banging. Drive, some beautifully ripe tannin. Engaging. Smasher 93
2015 Merlot - green gum, blackberry, dark spice. The stem kind of grabs a hold. Makes it a serious thing, but possibly a bit cool to make the best expression with the herbal touch overtaking. 89

Back to the accomodation for a cleansing ale, shower and then off to Ten Minutes by Tractor, where we had a pretty tasty 3 course ,eat each, accompanied by a couple of bottles.

NV Pierre Peters Blanc de Blanc - brioche burnt caramel some almond croissant nuttiness, pear tart, clean lines, citrus bangs, lovely gear!! 93

Amouse Bouche - profiterole w/ foie gras, blackberry jelly + sydney rock + chicken croquette

2015 rottgers 2015 GG Riesling - bruised rotting pear, ginger, Brazil nut, honeysuckle and talc with lines of slatey minerality, a bit loose around the edges 90 **served too warm to start.

2010 Moorooduc Estate Robinson Chardonnay - smashing chardy, stonefruits, cashew cream, got a smidge of reductive smoke. Balance and power, floats along the plate. Fruit impeccable. 93. Back to the well with Moorooduc after the great tasting during the day

As we were finishing up, the somm, Jacques, came over for a chat after hearing a bit of our banter through the night, and to show us a couple of TenX wines which we missed during the day. We got chatting and a few other wines made an appearance to taste. Exceptional service

2014 Wallis Chardonnay - wow - white peach, cashew tight lines of acid focus. Flow and immense balance. Supreme wine 94

2011 10X tractor mcutchen - green nectarine and almond meal, slick of matchstick smoke, some grassy phenolic in comparison to 14s. Light and lean but tastes young and strong. 92

2009 cuvée et Russian river mataro - black currant dark fruit, savoury and delightful salinity, slight raisin business, pretty wine 91

2010 Avanti Shiraz - wow black plums, dark fruit and musk, beaut balance with some dark black pepper. Very strong 93

2015 Down the rabbit hole Sauvignon - sees skins, lots of em. Orange in colour. **no notes, but this was bloody excellent.

Fin

[Mark Carrington]

Thanks for the report. A good read.

[TiggerK]

Nice work guys, sounds like a fantastic weekend.

[Krusty]

Top notes PC, glad you stayed committed throughout.

Only day 1 thus far, it starts to get a bit loose by the time we get through day 2 !

I am sure Paul will post up more later this week.

My very brief thoughts on day one and most of these will hardly be a shock to anyone who has covered a wine region:

Early starts are great - get in there before the punters and you will usually get excellent treatment, Nigel at Yabby Lake a case in point
Colgate and sparkling aren't the world's greatest food/wine match
Quality beats quantity - we were pretty ambitious across this whole trip, however as will be demonstrated later in the notes, the best experiences were those when we had the luxury of taking our time and chatting to the makers
Big corporates or those with big reps are often the most underwhelming cellar doors
Ritchies IGA in Dromana is awesome !
Moorronduc Estate make amazing wines, why have I not discovered these guys previously, Garden Pinot in particular was amazing
Ten Minutes X Tractor was a pretty good dinner, their somm Jacques was an absolute legend with real generosity and a good feel for what we would enjoy - yea gads ! full skin contact sauv blanc, who woulda thunk it ?!, great service from all staff across the night
Duck eggs, smoked trout and eel, bacon, coffee is not the best platform to base a three day bender on, especially when matched with american bbq for lunch then 2 hatted restaurant for dinner !

[dave vino]

Tasting machines!!

I know I've said it before, but Paul has one of the most succinct tasting note styles I've seen. I am constantly amazed the amount of 'detail' he provides in what in essence is a Tweet length review. It tells me all I want to know about the wine. He should start a website, Flash Card Wine Reviews.

Sounds like we need to do a Moorooduc horizontal of their range and spend some time on them. And Yabby Lake for that matter.

[pc79]

Less is more Dave. Appreciate the kind words.
Just wait for the report on day 2's tasting. I think we have all (those present) re found a previously discarded gem!

[michel]

Enjoying the notes and travelling vicariously with you
What is the Ten Minutes wine list like?
You guys have serious stamina

[sjw_11]

Great notes pc79... very jealous. Look forward to reading about the rest of the trip.

[pc79]

Enjoying the notes and travelling vicariously with you
What is the Ten Minutes wine list like?
You guys have serious stamina

10x list is off the chain. 70 or so pages. An index at the front.

[Krusty]

To be fair though there was a lot of fluff in it, particularly info about their own site, history, blah, blah. Helpful sure but not particularly necessary.

Some decent bargains too if you have the time to look, very broad, an entirely separate list available by the glass too which is a great idea.

[Con J]

Thanks for the report, it’s lovely place to visit.
I use to go up there regularly a while back, now I'd be lucky if I went once a year.

The Queen’s Birthday weekend Winter Wine Festival at Red Hill was an annual must back then.

Cheers Con.

[pc79]

Thanks for the report, it’s lovely place to visit.
The Queen’s Birthday weekend Winter Wine Festival at Red Hill was an annual must back then.

Cheers Con.

That sounds the goods Con. June. Cold, misty some great wines and excellent food.