Myrtaceae Winery: Boutique wines on the magnificent Mornington Peninsula

Tasting wines in cellar doors, dining in modern restaurants, golfing, swimming and hiking through the sweeping hills of Main Ridge, Red Hill and Flinders from Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula is an incredible experience. A few miles from the iconic Arthurs Seat chairlift is Myrtaceae Winery.

Established in 1984, Myrtaceae is a vineyard and winery situated in the Main Ridge area on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.  It remains the highest winery on the Peninsula, making it ideal for the production of limited quantities of high quality, cool climate, single vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines.

The owners, John and Julie Trueman, are passionate Peninsula vintners who grow their grapes, produce their own wines and host Cellar Door visitors every weekend, with tastings conducted in Riedel rolling tasting glasses. The winery is nestled in a small picturesque valley and surrounded by every-growing gardens.

A Rustic Cellar Door Experience
John & Julie Trueman own, manage and produce Myrtaceae – you’ll also find them at Cellar Door each weekend.Julie is responsible for winemaking and continues the quest to learn the intricacies of the grape and how to best let it express itself. When not in the winery she can be found managing the extensive gardens surrounding the property or driving the Art Deco-inspired branding of interior of Myrtaceae.

John is responsible for managing the vineyard and producing the best possible grapes. He is also the driving force behind the property’s Land For Wildlife registration and the regeneration of the headwaters of Main Creek, which begins on the property and flows down the centre of the peninsula to Bushrangers Bay, Cape Schanck.  

Viticulture & Winemaking
Myrtaceae’s vineyard covers 3.5 acres with a combined total of less than 5000 bottles produced per vintage across Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Rosé. John & Julie Trueman have always overseen the entire process, from planting through to bottling and aim to create wine reflective of the location and conditions.

The vineyard uses a Scott Henry trellis system, intervention with the vineyard is kept to a minimum and grapes are hand-picked over a series of vintage days in Autumn.The winemaking process too aims to let the fruit show itself, with minimal intervention. All our wine ferments in French Oak, split equally across new, one-year-old and two-years-old oak. Read varietal and vintage notes in our Wine Shop.

History
Established in 1984 by current owners John & Julie Trueman, in the early 1990s Cabernet Sauvignon was planted however the site proved to not be warm enough due to its high elevation.The original vineyard was transformed in the mid 90s by mostly replanting with Pinot Noir and some grafting to Chardonnay. 1998 saw a further new vineyard planted with Chardonnay.The first small vintage of Chardonnay was produced in 2000 and the first Pinot Noir in 2002. The wines have always been made on site, though the winery was not opened until 2004.

Behind the name – it’s pronounced mer – tay – see
Most of the major indigenous tree species of the Hinterland region and the Peninsula belong to the Myrtaceae botanical family. This family comprises, among others, eucalypts, melaleucas and leptospermums. It was a name that cropped up quite regularly when the property was being researched and reclaimed from its tangle of blackberries and other introduced weeds. It stuck. 

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