It’s Silver for Crittenden Estate at the Victorian Tourism Awards

The Crittenden Estate Wine Centre was recently awarded Silver at the Victorian Tourism Awards in the category of Tourism Wineries, Distilleries and Breweries.

For a business that prides itself on not only high-quality wines but a high-quality visitor experience as well, we were thrilled to win silver at these state awards. 

The Crittenden team were proud to be amongst an amazing array of businesses in this category including Bright Brewery, a very deserving winner of the gold, and Mornington Peninsula Brewery who were awarded Bronze.  Special mention of course to the other finalists in the category, Little Creatures Geelong and Sedona Estate.

Reflecting the complete visitor experience at Crittenden Estate, it was a wonderful achievement that our Lakeside Villas at Crittenden Estate were also awarded Silver in the category of Self Contained Accommodation.   

The Victorian Tourism Awards represent an industry framework for peer recognition which fosters a culture for business development excellence and innovation.

They present an invaluable benchmarking opportunity, looking at all elements of a business from Marketing, Sustainability, Business and Community engagement.

The award is a credit to the Crittenden Estate team and the amazing work that they do not only within the Wine Centre but with the broader wine industry, tourism industry and community as a whole. 

The Crittenden Wine Centre is open 7 days per week, 10.30 - 4.30pm providing seated wine tastings for guests to enjoy.

24/11/2017 at 9:42 AM Permalink

Garry Crittenden awarded "Tourism Legend"

Each year the Mornington Peninsula Regional Tourism legend award recognises the outstanding contribution by an individual to the Mornington Peninsula tourism industry.

Last night we were honoured to learn it had been awarded to Garry Crittenden.

Announced at Moonah Links golf course by last year’s recipient, Max Paganoni from Max’s at Red Hill Estate, the award was presented to Garry in front of industry colleagues and the State Minister for Tourism, The Hon John Eren MP.

Over the years Garry has served on many industry and tourism bodies at a regional, state and federal level, always taking a broad view of the importance of industry cooperation.

A major driver and strategist for tourism growth for over 25 years, he played a lead role in the very first umbrella-peninsula tourism group when he headed up the Mornington Peninsula Tourism Forum.  “It’s fair to say that in the years that MPTF was in place, it catapulted us from a sleepy backwater of holiday homes for the rich, to a must visit year-round destination, helped in no small part by the burgeoning wine industry.”  Garry said.

Garry has always recognised the importance of tourism and engaging the customer. It was 1992, when we opened our first official cellar door and with it the first winery café on the Peninsula. It was early days, but Garry and Margaret recognised the importance of pairing a food and wine experience and helping to promote the Peninsula as a food and wine destination.

Garry said, “It’s wonderful to see how the destination has grown and evolved over those years The Mornington Peninsula is now recognised nationally as a premium food and wine destination.”

In his acceptance speech, Garry acknowledged the work and innovation of his wife Margaret in establishing the restaurant and Cellar Door at Crittenden Estate, “While I was at a wine tasting event in London for Australia Day, showcasing Australian wine, unbeknown to me, Margaret was at home working with draftsman and creating the concept for what our food and wine experience was to become.  This award is a reflection of Margaret’s contribution, just as much as it is mine.”

In 2012, Garry was inducted as a Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Legend. This was recognising his pioneering work introducing new Italian grape varietals to Victoria, for his commitment to the development of the Mornington Peninsula wine region and inspiring many Australian winemakers.

22/11/2017 at 1:52 PM Permalink

Persistence and Belief leads to Dual Trophy Win

They say all things happen for a reason, which is perhaps why one of the Australian wine industry’s biggest mix ups, has led to one of Crittenden Estate’s most celebrated successes. 

At the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show held on November 8 - 11, Crittenden Estate’s 2013 Cri de Coeur Savagnin won the trophy for best French Varietal and then went on to win the trophy for best White Wine of show.

Regarded by the industry as one of the best wine show’s in the country, The Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show (AAVWS) is a forum for wines that fall outside the mainstream. The show had more than 800 wines entered, made by 226 different producers, grown in 66 unique wine regions.  Throughout the event, over 100 different grape varieties were tasted.

So how did this success come to be? 

In 2008 many Australian vignerons, including Crittenden Estate, inadvertently planted Savagnin in the belief they were planting the Spanish variety Albarińo.  However, upon a visit by France’s top vine identifier, Jean-Michael Boursiquot, the mistake was realised.  

Whilst many winemakers attempted to graft vines, or even rip them out altogether, Crittenden Estate turned its focus to the home of Savagnin, the Jura region in France, and began ageing their tiny production under a yeast flor or ‘voile’ to add a nutty, oxidative quality to the wine. And so began a journey of education, perspiration and frustration, which has ultimately resulted in this highly acclaimed wine. A Cri De Coeur (cry of the heart) if ever there was one!

With the first vintage produced in 2011, Winemaker Rollo Crittenden has continued to evolve the wine making technique of this Jura style wine for the 2013 vintage.

Rollo said, “We never could have hoped to make such a highly regarded and now awarded wine when we embarked on this project. At first, we were just trying to salvage a bad situation and have a little fun along the way. It goes without saying that I am delighted to receive these awards for a wine that ultimately started as a viticultural mistake – especially from a wine show that I hold in such high regard.”

Apart from these AAVWS awards, industry experts have also shared their praises for Crittenden Estate’s 2013 Savagnin 

“This wine is a triumph. A few Australian winemakers have attempted the style but Crittenden Estate has absolute­ly nailed it…  it is one of the most intriguing and captivating wines I’ve tried this year”.  Dave Brookes, The Adelaide Review, August 7th 2017

“The second release of this vin jaune-inspired white wine - savagnin aged for years in barrel under a layer of flor yeast - is even more outstanding than the first: gorgeous nuttiness and tangy complexity.” Max Allen, Gourmet Traveller, June 2017

"This has been so anticipated by me I nearly wet my pants opening the carton. Then it got lost in a blind line up of ‘other whites’ but so easily found. Smelling it makes me want to take a big gulp of it. Crittenden are the only people in Australia really, truly, taking their bounty of savag­nin for table wines seriously". Mike Bennie, winefront.com.au, 17 May 2017

16/11/2017 at 10:23 AM Permalink

Spring Garden Party

Crittenden Estate recently hosted it's annual Wine Alliance Spring Garden Party. An event exclusively for our Wine Alliance Club members, guests were able to enjoy a wide range of Crittenden Wines beautifully paired with Indonesian fare from Andrew Grinter's new venture Social in Blairgowrie.

Thank you to all who joined us and we look forward to doing it all again next year!  

Here is a little video from the day 

02/11/2017 at 12:13 PM Permalink

Spring time at the Estate

The vineyard has come to life in the past few weeks signalling the start of the growing season.  A healthy cover crop can be found in the mid rows of the vineyard, with broad beans and snow peas amongst some of the crops.  This will provide essential nitrogen for the vines along with plenty of options for spring salads and side dishes for the dinner table. 

Work in the winery has been steady over winter.  Our estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are developing nicely in barrel, where they will spend a few more months before blending and preparing for bottle.  In the meantime we are preparing the 2017 Peninsula range of wines due for bottling in November.  The core Peninsula range will be joined this year by a new Peninsula Rosé made entirely from Pinot Noir sourced from Main Ridge.  

So far the wines are showing great promise.  The whites are defined by great acidity, freshness and balance with the reds showing elegant fruit expression and fine detail.  Drinkability will be a key feature of the 2017’s but they will cellar well if you can resist the temptation.  

Matt Campbell, Assistant winemaker and winery manager

05/10/2017 at 11:09 AM Permalink