FROM VINE Forty years at Moorooduc Estate by Richard Cornish

FROM VINE forty years at moorooduc estate

Down a rough dirt road, not far from Devilbend Reservoir, is one of Victoria's most highlyregarded wineries. The native shrubs along the driveway give way to a rambling cottage garden surrounding the winery and the commanding rammed concrete building, home to the McIntyre family. Forty years ago, a young Melbourne surgeon and his gregarious, funloving wife planted vines in the then-bare paddock facing the slopes of Mount Eliza. Richard and Jill McIntyre nursed those vines through a long drought. Their objective was to make the “most honest” wines from the grapes, doing as little to them as possible to create wines that would be the perfect accompaniment to good food.

Their first vintage was in 1986. "We took a few buckets of grapes in the back of the trailer up to Main Ridge Estate," says Kate McIntyre, the eldest of Richard and Jill's four children. Kate is now director of wine at Moorooduc Estate and one of Australia's most respected wine tasters and judges. She remembers Peninsula wine pioneer Nat White fermenting that first harvest into wines that, although from young vines, were forerunners of what was to become a success story. The winery was built a year later, and the first commercial releases came in 1988-89. "I remember Mum and Dad heading to Sydney for wine shows and having a great time with other Victorian winemakers," says Kate.

In 2000 the McIntyres moved into their new Gregory Burgessdesigned home/B&B/restaurant. Here Jill opened a restaurant, serving provincial French food to match the estate wines. For more than a decade it was one of the most popular food and wine experiences on the Peninsula. "Mum loved to cook duck to go with Dad’s pinot noir,” Kate says. “A match made in heaven.”

The focus in the cellar door is “100 per cent on the wine”. Here you learn the Moorooduc Estate way of making wine. The experience is structured, costs $10, and takes visitors through at least four estate wines. They are made from grapes that are handpicked. The bunches are sorted, and damaged grapes removed. For the chardonnay and pinot gris, whole bunches are pressed and the free-running juice is collected in larger fermenters and stirred to allow the natural yeasts on the skins to mix through the must. "Yes, it's all wild yeast,” Kate says. “We don't add any yeast. We do use a tiny bit of sulphur to kill off the bad yeasts, so we’re not 'natural winemakers' in the modern sense. Let's say we're very low-intervention winemakers."

The whites ferment in French oak barrels, undergoing malolactic fermentation “if the wine feels like it”. The pinot noir is made in a similar fashion, except it is allowed to ferment on skins in stainless steel tanks for several weeks before ageing in French oak. The wines are filtered if necessary. While Moorooduc Estate wines have been favourably compared to those from Burgundy, they are still distinctively Australian and made in a style unique to this family on this block of land on the Peninsula.

To find out more about the 2022 40-year celebrations, visit moorooducestate.com.au