Victoria’s Pinot Noir up close

Last updated 18 November 2024 In Features

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. Head a little inland, and the Pinot Noir is ripe, bold and immediately satisfying.

From the cool, maritime climate of the coast to the milder, warmer climate of its interior, Victoria offers some of the best Australian Pinot Noirs from regions like Geelong, Mornington Peninsula, Yarra Valley and Gippsland.

Victoria&rsquo;s Pinot Noir up close — Tasting Pinot Noir from the barrel at Provenance winery in Victoria, where the variety demands its highest average price in Australia.

Geelong: Aromatic Pinots from Victoria’s second city

The second biggest city in Victoria, Geelong was a major manufacturing and port city, booming in the 1800s as the gateway to Victoria’s gold fields. It is also well known as the jumping-off point for the Great Ocean Road.

To the south-west of Melbourne, Geelong 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 visitors 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.

Provenance winery in the Yarra Valley, Victoria — Provenance Wines in Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula produces some of the region’s most highly rated Pinot Noir wines.

Mornington Peninsula: The fine wine region on Melbourne’s doorstep

The Mornington Peninsula, a key destination for wine tourism in Australia, 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. 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 of 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 Yabby Lake.

Picking Pinot Noir grapes at De Bortoli winery in the Yarra Valley, Victoria. — Picking Pinot Noir grapes at the renowned De Bortoli winery in the Yarra Valley, Victoria.

Yarra Valley: The ultimate getaway for classy, lighter Pinots

Another region just an hour’s drive from Melbourne, the Yarra Valley is north-east of the state’s capital and is a well-visited weekend destination for wine-lovers and foodies from Victoria and further afield.

Home to the state’s first vineyard, planted in 1838, 80 producers are spread across five sub-zones: Healesville, Coldstream, Yarra Glen, Seville and Lilydale. The region is diverse in altitude, varying between 50 – 430m, and is one of Australia’s outstanding cool-climate regions.

Yarra Valley Pinot Noir tends to offer fragrant and perfumed wines, often lighter in body than wines from other parts of the state, with a silky, velvety texture. Many of the producers regularly open their cellar doors to visitors, and include famous names like Yering Station, Oakridge Wines and De Bortoli, as well as the very popular Mac Forbes and Giant Steps.

A glass of Pinot Noir wine at the Church House Gourmet Retreat in Victoria's Fish Creek in the Gippsland region. — The Church House Gourmet Retreat at Fish Creek in Victoria’s Gippsland offers visitors access to the region’s dynamic and diverse Pinot Noir wines.

Gippsland: A varied terroir with an impressive variety of styles

Famous for Phillip Island’s penguin parade and Wilsons Promontory, the southernmost point of mainland Australia, Gippsland is also a genuine powerhouse, home to important industries and farming. But the region is also host to a dynamic and diverse wine industry with over fifty producers.

Gippsland is a vast region that stretches from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne all the way to the border with New South Wales, from the wild coast to the beautiful High Country.

The coastal plains of East Gippsland, with its sea breezes and cool climate, produce subtle Pinot Noir. West Gippsland is known for its riper, more fruit-forward styles, and Southern Gippsland’s proximity to the Bass Strait results in more structured and finessed wines.

Varied, distinctive and among the best in Australia, Pinot Noir is produced by wineries such as the well-known Bass Phillip, the Gippsland Wine Company, Lightfoot Wines, William Downie, Dirty Three and The Wine Farm.

As Victoria’s reputation for high quality Pinot Noir continues to grow, and as more young guns join the ranks of those producing exciting new expressions, Victoria remains a wine region to watch for this beloved grape variety.