Two days in Mornington Peninsula: it’s much more than just wine
A two-day jaunt through premium wine and food country on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Where to eat, stay and imbibe?
The barbecue place from Melissa Goffin’s childhood was a joint out on Florida’s Highway 1 named Shorty’s. You can still find it there, swallowed up long ago by the spread of the Miami suburbs, serving the same baby back ribs and pulled pork sandwiches on long, communal wooden tables where there is always room to sit one more.
The idea of trying to bring that slow-cooked memory to life inside an old truck garage in the heart of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula seems a little bonkers. That is, until you take a seat at one of the long, wooden tables inside Melissa and Martin’s Red Gum BBQ in Red Hill and tuck into a St Louis-style spare rib. Or a thick slice of brisket. Or a tray of pulled pork. And leave room for the banana pudding.
Never thought of smoking meat with Red Gum? Co-owner, cook and smoker-in-chief Martin Goffin reckons it makes for a cleaner fire than you get from hickory or mesquite. He proudly introduces me to Big Red, his large smoker imported from Texas. All the cooking gets done the day before. He explains the secret to kick-arse brisket is the hours each slab of beef spends resting in hot-hold before it is served. The prices per weight are displayed on a “wall of meat” behind the bar: free-range pork from Borrowdale, Queensland, beef from the NSW Riverina, chooks from Bannockburn across the bay.
On the day we drive down from Melbourne, the lads from Mornington Peninsula Brewery have staged a “tap takeover” at the bar, serving everything from hoppy pale ales to a rich porter and a suspiciously cloudy brew called Coffee Squid, which hits the palate like an IPA but finishes with more of a soft kiss than bitter bite.
So what is this place doing deep in pinot country, a viticulturalist playground of rich volcanic soils and cool climate and celebrated vintages of character and complexity? It’s a question that keeps repeating throughout our two-day retreat on the peninsula. The short answer is that in modern Mornington, good wine is just the start.
To help us navigate the single-lane roads that wind past vineyards and bay vistas and eucalypt forests, Mercedes has lent us the use of an elegant E-series coupe. A short drive from Red Gum BBQ, we pull into a local distillery where they’ve figured out how to squeeze the pheromones from West Australian meat ants into a locally made gin. Fancy a dry Antini? If you let your mouth wander beyond the obligatory juniper berries, you might detect a hint of mulla mulla, purple vetch and native lemongrass, sandalwood nuts and currant bush, all sourced from Wooleen station, a historic, 200,000ha cattle grazing property about 700km north of Perth.
The idea of creating a native Australian gin belonged to Bob Laing, who co-founded the Bass and Flinders Distillery nine years ago with friend and business partner Wayne Klintworth. To go the full bottle, he enlisted the help of Wooleen’s owners, pioneering conservationists David and Frances Pollock, and a research team from Melbourne University. Bob died at the start of last year. His last moments were spent inside an old wine production shed where he and Wayne had spent years applying the French art of cognac-making to grape-based vodka and gin.
The business is now run by Wayne and his daughter Holly, the first, five-year aged brandy has been released and the range of gins is enough to leave traditional notions about the humble G&T both shaken and stirred. As much as I enjoyed Bob’s Angry Ant, my favourite was the spicy assault of Gin 10, where a hint of orange and cardamom seed is trailed by Tasmanian peppery berries. The spring release is Cerise, a pink gin infused with cherries and raspberries.
Whether inspired by southern barbecue or old school, artisan spirits, it takes creative chutzpah to bring something entirely new to an area and do it well. The same sense of adventure can be found at Crittenden Estate in nearby Dromana, where second-generation winemaker Rollo Crittenden has produced perhaps the most singular drop you are likely to taste on the entire peninsula. It’s this year’s Cri de Coeur Savagnin. Made in the style of a vin jaune, which relatively few Australian winemakers have been game enough to try, it pours as a brilliant golden hue and packs the most astonishing bouquet.
With a newly purchased bottle or two stashed in the boot of the Merc, we head back towards Red Hill where, behind the sculpted, rammed walls of Port Phillip Estate, dinner and lodgings are waiting.
The moment the thick wooden door senses our approach and swings open, you half expect to hear the voice of James Bond’s arch enemy Ernst Blofeld welcoming you to his secret lair. Once you step inside, the not-so-evil genius of the building is revealed, with an elevated, curved deck commanding one of the most spectacular views on the peninsula.
Beyond the vines, beyond the tree-lined hills, the blue of the Western Port Bay is framed by French Island to the left and Phillip Island to the right. But for now, let’s not go too far beyond the vines. After all, this is pinot country and we’re about to be treated to an absolute cracker. It arrives as a 2010 Port Phillip Estate Kooyong Meres Mornington Peninsula single vineyard selection which, on its own, is worth the hour’s drive from the city.
So what to eat on this villainously indulgent weekend? I’ll leave you with my top three.
For something small, stop in at the Polperro Winery in Red Hill and sample the Wagyu tartare and kingfish sashimi. For a taste of spring, the Port Phillip Estate offers a risotto primavera that arrives as a livid green sea of broad beans, peas and asparagus with a delicate, slow-cooked egg nestled in the middle. For something that bends the mind as well as tempting the tastebuds, the spanner crab and potato creation at Jackalope’s über-cool eatery Doot Doot Doot is a weirdly wonderful pairing that is developing its own cult following among well-travelled foodies.
If you need a cleanser after that lot, the best place to head is Peninsula Hot Springs in Fingal, about 30 minutes’ drive out of Red Hill. Within the privacy of your own, Japanese-style bathhouse, you can drink Tulsi tea, made from a celebrated Indian herb, while luxuriating in a tub of the same brew. It is the closest you’ll ever come to drinking your own bathwater.
Luxury suites at Port Phillip Estate from $420 per night (two night minimum); packages include Romantic Retreat, a weekend stay including Pol Roger Champagne on arrival, continental breakfast and a three-course dinner for two in the Dining Room, from $900 per couple. Dining Room open for lunch Wed-Sun; dinner Fri-Sat. Cellar Door Kitchen lunch Sat-Tues; tasting and sales 11am-5pm daily. portphillipestate.com.au
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The writer was a guest of the operator and Visit Victoria.