Winter Wine Weekend back on across Mornington Peninsula after coronavirus restrictions relaxed
Mornington Peninsula wineries are once again open for business, just in time for Red Hill’s famous Winter Wine Weekend. But the festival will be run very differently this year.
South East
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The hugely popular Winter Wine Festival that attracts thousands to the Mornington Peninsula is back on this weekend – but there’s a twist.
Visitors will have to go to individual vineyards for tastings instead of attending a giant showcase of the region’s best food and wine at Red Hill Showgrounds.
Mornington Peninsula Wine chief executive Olivia Barrie said wine makers were excited to be hosting any kind of event this weekend.
She said the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions meant cellar doors could now offer tastings without serving food.
The change opened the door for smaller wineries that did not normally serve meals to welcome back customers.
“This new legislation is just in time for the long weekend, which is one of the busiest in our calendar,” Ms Barrie said.
“We’ve received many inquiries from people planning a trip to the Peninsula this weekend.”
She stressed that things would look a little different and urged people to follow the guidelines.
“Guests need to be aware it’s not quite business as usual,” she said.
“We’d like to encourage visitors to be patient, make bookings where they can and be aware some cellar doors will be at capacity quickly due to their size.”
Ms Barrie said the wine industry had worked closely with the Chief Health Officer and Department of Health to develop COVID-Safe guidelines and protocols to ensure customers and staff were safe and cellar doors and wineries had a successful reopening.
Morooduc Estate cellar door manager Geoff Plahn said the winery would be holding tastings by appointment only between 11am and 5pm across the weekend.
He said the timing of the changes to the rules was perfect.
“We have four newly released pinots that we want to showcase so this is fortuitous,” Mr Plahn said.
Tastings will be limited to four per person and pre-poured.
“We would normally use one glass per person per tasting so using four creates a lot of extra work,” Mr Plahn said.
For that reason tastings will be limited to one hour.
“Ideally we’d like to get them done in half an hour to give us time to prepare for the next one,” Mr Plahn said.
The partial lockdown had been tough for smaller wineries and not all would be able to capitalise on the relaxing of the restrictions, he said.
“The tastings have to be seated and some places just don’t have enough seating to do it,” he said.
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Australian Grape and Wine has designed guidelines specifically for cellar doors based on
advice from the federal Government, the federal Department of Health and SafeWork Australia.
THE RULES
Tastings must be seated.
A full glass can only be bought with a meal.
Time limits on visits.
No more than 20 people at a time
Bookings recommended
Names and phone numbers of all visitors must be taken
Walk-ins will only be accepted if there is no clash with an existing booking