Crittenden Estate: Retrospective and current release tasting

When Garry Crittenden planted 2ha of vines in 1982, he doubled Mornington Peninsula’s vineyard area. He initially bet on Bordeaux grapes, led the charge on Italian and Iberian varieties and even had a short-lived fling with Muscadet’s Melon de Bourgogne.

Inevitably, since Pinot Noir and Chardonnay today account for about 50% and 25% respectively of Mornington Peninsula’s plantings, wines from these varieties were well represented in the tasting, which spanned 21 wines from 1987 to 2019.

Early, simpler expressions bottled under the original Dromana Estate brand (which Crittenden sold, retaining only the vineyard) stolidly held onto their fruit – as did the Melon de Bourgogne.

Greater clonal diversity, organic viticulture, wild ferments, whole-bunch ferments, much reduced malolactic fermentation for Chardonnay and, with vine age, less reliance on oak as a crutch has improved complexity, structure and balance immeasurably, reflecting a huge leap in sophistication.

Much to everyone’s surprise, the Bordeaux varieties shone. Crittenden originally planted predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon because, he explained, ‘no way would you plant anything else in a maritime climate’.

Based near low-lying Dromana, on well-drained sandy loam over grey clay, the Crittenden Estate vineyard is relatively warm. However, the elevated, exposed southerly sites on moisture-retentive volcanic soils produced green, leafy Cabernets. Crittenden replaced those vines with Pinot Noir in 2009. Similarly, the Piedmontese grape Arneis (Australia’s first plantings, in 1995) was replaced by Chardonnay following indifferent sales.

Named after Crittenden’s children Rollo and Zoe, who now manage the business, the Los Hermanos label (meaning siblings in Spanish) focuses on Iberian varieties made in a breezy but interesting, food-friendly style.

It transpired that the Albariño planted for Los Hermanos was actually Savagnin (a countrywide problem). Rollo now vinifies it in an exciting, flor-driven, Jura-like style under the estate’s Cri de Coeur label. Introduced in 2012, the boundary-pushing range features a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir whose bare-boned structure comes mainly from the grape and terroir rather than oak.

Tasting Crittenden and Dromana wines