WINE: VINEYARD

Thirty acres of vineyard produce the majority of the Montalto and Pennon Hill wines. In keeping with the cool, maritime climate of the Mornington Peninsula our vineyard is made up primarily of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with around one acre each of Riesling, Pinot Meunier and Semillon.

Our amphitheatre property has two major sites – Montalto, a north-east facing site and Pennon Hill, with a south-westerly aspect. The different aspects and varying soil types of these two slopes provide great distinction between fruit styles, with the warmer Montalto site producing exceptional grapes with great depth well suited to the elegant Montalto range. The Pennon Hill site, with its longer ripening period, produces wonderful complex, delicate fruit which is the focus for the Pennon Hill range.

At Montalto we believe our wine should be an expression of its origin, a representation of the best fruit produced from its site in a particular vintage.

Care and attention to detail in the vineyard is paramount – well balanced vines, no irrigation, low cropping levels, hand harvesting and pruning and the exploration and use of alternatives to chemical sprays all play their part in producing high quality fruit. Each year the challenges are different, but our passion remain the same, year in, year out.

Vintage 2010

After a dream growing season with even temperatures and no heat spikes, vintage got off to a running start on Monday 22 February with the hand harvesting of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier for our Cuvée. This year being the first for our new winery has been a race between fruit ripeness and finishing the winery in readiness to receive and process fruit!

It was looking like being an early vintage yet again, but a week of rain in early March slowed things right down. Once the sun started to shine again however, everything finished ripening in a mad rush, and we had a very busy time picking and crushing. The beauty of having our own winery has meant that we can now truly pick based on flavour, and respond quickly to changes in ripeness, which is already showing real signs of paying off. Picking has now finished, with Geoff and his crew able to breathe a sigh of relief. Simon and Richard in our winery are finishing pressing the fruit, before transfer to barrel or tank. More to come once Simon in the winery has had a chance to slow down...

Vintage 2009

2008/2009 vintage year was a challenging season due to extremes in weather experienced throughout most parts of Australia. The Mornington Peninsula was no different with higher than normal temperatures experienced in the first part of the year.

Although heat damage did occur at Montalto after the extreme weather days in late January/early February it was minimal compared to most vineyards in the region. This was in part due to the vineyard being at higher elevation which led to more cooling breezes from the ocean. With a very high level of diligence and viticultural compliance within the vineyard all heat affected fruit was removed leading to very clean fruit in perfect condition being available to harvest.

In general the past summer was fairly cool with good spring and early summer rains setting the vines up well for the rest of the season. This allowed the vines to cope well with the hot period that occurred later.

Vintage this year started slowly and about 3 weeks later than the past 3 years. After the hot weather the vintage period was cool and dry giving perfect harvest conditions. Crops were moderate in size across the board and smaller than the last couple of years. It is pleasing that for the fifth year in a row we have had exceptional quality of grapes to be able to make great wine. All the white varieties from Chardonnay to Riesling have exceptional varietal flavour, natural acidity, and are very well balanced. With the reds once again quality was very high due to a slow ripening period. They have excellent colour, flavor and depth. This year is one of those vintages that has produced both high quality in all whites and reds and something to keep an eye out for in the coming years.

Vintage 2008

2008 carried event higher stress levels than normal due to the pace of ripening and extreme shift in weather at the critical time. Across the state wineries had log jams due to the fruit ripening around the same time and higher than expected cropping levels. Delivery trucks, grape bins, press capacity and refrigeration and tank capacity were all stretched.
Fortunately due to our pre-planning and relationships Montalto came through unscathed as did our contracting customers. We hand harvested 500 tonnes followed up by an olive harvest double last year as our younger trees came on stream.

Vintage 2007

We again started harvest four weeks earlier than normal at the start of March, with dry and warm conditions experienced throughout the entire time of harvest. The resultant wines, still in barrel and tank, show tremendous concentration while still showing pure varietal flavours. 

Most vintages are either a good white year or a good red year but not both. This year however both the whites and reds are of equal high quality.

The Chardonnay has intense flavours with excellent minerality. The Pinots are big and fleshy with wild cherry and spice notes. Shiraz is ripe with dark plum and cherry flavours. Pinot Grigio and Riesling are lifted with excellent aromatics. The Rosé is again of high standard with lots of raspberry and strawberry flavours. Finally the fizz base we have made is the best to date which will make an irresistible drink in time to come.

Vintage 2006

The earliest start to vintage in living memory we got underway on the 21 st of February with the harvest of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier for sparkling base. Harvest started for table wine on the 8 th of March, weeks earlier than the previous year. With dry but mild weather conditions coupled with moderate crops once again a fantastic vintage occurred. It seems that we are being spoiled by excellent vintages year after year at present.

Great flavours present in the fruit have translated into wonderful wines, now in current release. In particular the reds are outstanding and the whites are very good.