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ABOUT OUR VINEYARD

In 1998 we established our 9 acre Pinot Noir vineyard on the 20 acre property. It was planted in two stags and is in its seventh and eighth growing seasons. It has seen five vintages.

We carefully selected the cool-climate region of the Mornington Peninsula and our particular site in Balnarring to make Pinot Noir. Hurley Vineyard wraps around the north-eastern crest of a small sheltered hill. The hill is capped by volcanic, stony, red-brown earth. This soil type both retains moisture and drains very well. The Peninsula is very well suited climatically to the production of Pinot Noir, and the sub-region in which Balnarring is situated perhaps particularly so. Within the Mornington Peninsula our site is somewhat unusual: it has a low altitude but a southerly latitude, it receives reasonable spring and summer rainfall and it has ironstone-based rather than sand-based soil.

Our focus at Hurley Vineyard is upon the expression of terroir. We have divided the 9 acres into three vineyards, based on aspect (there is no difference in the soil type): The vineyards are:

Lodestone: this is the north facing vineyard adjacent to the front gate. It contains the Burgundian clones 114, 115, and now 777, as well as MV6 (see below). Lodestone is magnetite, an iron mineral abundant in this vineyard (bring a magnet and see), and also “a thing that is a focus of attention or attraction” (OED). This name keeps us focused on the soil.

Homage: this is the north-east facing vineyard. It is almost all clone G5V15 from cuttings generously given to us by Nat and Rosalie White at Main Ridge Estate, as they have to so many others before. Clone G5V15 is the best of the first-generation clones and is the backbone of many of the Mornington Peninsula’s best Pinot Noir.

Garamond: this is the east facing vineyard opposite the stables and winery. This is entirely MV6, the great second-generation Australian clone thought to have originated in 18^th century Burgundian stock brought by the early European settlers. Claude Garamond (deceased c.1561) was a 16^th century French typographer, a devoted artisan whose typeface appears on our label and stationary. This provisional web page is typed in Garamond.

Hurley Vineyard was officially opening in 2003 by descendants of the traditional owners of the Mornington Peninsula, the Boonewrung Aboriginal Elders.