Stonier: ‘Ultra-charming’ small-batch wines to seek out

Mornington Peninsula pioneer Stonier provided my introduction to the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay-focussed Victoria region and, 15 years on, Victoria's cool, maritime wines have become strikingly finer, with greater nuance.

With barely-there oak and lower alcohol levels, Stonier’s first UK pre-release single-vineyard tasting rang the changes loud and clear.

Founded by Brian and Noel Stonier in 1978 (and now owned by Accolade), the Merricks-based estate rolled out its first single-vineyard wines in 2000: KBS Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.Windmill Pinot Noir came along in 2003, followed by Lyncroft Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and Stonier Family Vineyard Pinot Noir (2009), Merron’s Vineyard Pinot Noir (2010), Thompson Vineyard Chardonnay, Jack’s Ridge Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (2012), Jimjoca Pinot Noir (2013) and Jimjoca Chardonnay (2015).

It was a flurry in which leading Oregon winemaker and co-founder of Argyle, Rollin Soles, had a hand. Although chief winemaker Mike Symons noted that vineyard individuality had always been apparent when blending the Reserve wines, ‘it really stood out’ when Soles confirmed the differences.

Fruit vs oak

Aiming to highlight these differences, Symons deploys much less new oak and large-format puncheons.

Whilst the first vintage of KBS Chardonnay and Pinot Noir spent 14 months in oak, 50% new for the Pinot Noir, 100% new (for the first nine months) for the Chardonnay, the most recent vintages are matured for between eight to ten months in used oak.

Only the Reserve wines and Merrons Vineyard are aged in new oak (15-25%), as these are wines ‘where we don’t mind a bit more winemaking artefact,’ explains Symons.

‘We were maybe trying too hard to make Chardonnay and Pinot to old-world recipes,’ he says, adding that reducing the oak influence has also been about ‘playing more to our fruit’s strengths – highlighting the brighter flavours through less time in barrel.’

The upshot is a range of single-vineyard wines which, though all grown in red basalt soils (and, for the Pinot, all MV6 clone), are highly individual but distinctly Australian, with delicious vibrancy and purity of fruit. But that’s not to say these ultra-charming wines lack staying power: sophisticated for the money, these exceptionally limited-release Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs delivered much pleasure over the course of three days, the reds especially growing in stature and depth.

SIPNOT

Stonier has hosted SIPNOT – the Stonier International Pinot Noir Tasting- since 2000. A blind tasting of 12 international Pinot Noirs, it usually alternates between Sydney and Melbourne but has also been held in Hong Kong and London, and is to be held in the UK for the third time this year.

Stonier factbox:

Founded 1978

Vineyard resource 95ha of which 17ha are owned

Average yields 5.6 t/ha Chardonnay; 4.5t/ha Pinot Noir

Vintage overview

2017 A very wet and relatively cool spring reduced yields. A cool to mild growing season produced exceptional citrus-driven Chardonnays with elevated acidities and lifted aromatics, and delicate, spicy Pinot Noirs with a savoury edge.

2018 a warm winter and spring with a quick, complete flowering and fruit-set resulted in the largest vintage on record. Slighter warmer, but with no extremes during vintage, the season produced generous Chardonnays and vibrantly fruited, well-structured Pinot Noirs.

Stonier latest releases:

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