Wine
WINE >
The Cups Estate produces estate made wines from its 30 acre property on the Mornington Peninsula. The Mornington Peninsula is a highly regarded wine region of Victoria, Australia and is situated an hours drive south of Melbourne City. Mornington Peninsula provides ideal growing conditions for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris; accordingly the area consistently produces some of Australia's finest cool climate wines.
Our purpose is to make wines that represent the true characteristics of each grape variety while allowing the maritime influence of the Mornington Peninsula and specific terroir of The Cups to shine. The Cups Estate practices hand nurturing and sustainable viticulture under the guided hand of Greg Thomson, long-term Viticulturist of The Cups Estate.
Meticulous and considered winemaking from Richard McIntyre allows the fruit to express its own charms and characteristics. Richard is highly influenced in the Burgundian style of winemaking. The wines are carefully crafted in traditional methods, with a non-interventional approach including; low sulphur's, whole bunch presses, wild yeast fermentation, natural malolactic fermentation and little or no filtration or fining.
After producing the first vintage in 2003 The Cups Estate has now produced many award winning wines that have received high acclaim. The range of wines include; Cuvee, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Rose, Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Sparkling Shiraz and Moscato.
Some of the many awards received include Gold Medals and Trophies at The Royal Melbourne Wine Show, The Royal Sydney Wine Show, The International Cool Climate Wine Show, Les Concours des Vins and The Victorian Wine Show.
When tasting our wines at the Cellar Door our knowledgeable Cellar Door Team aim to engage you in as little or as much wine knowledge as suits you.
Cellar Door:
Wine Tastings are currently limited to mornings- from 11am to 11.45am. (Thurs to Mon)
Bookings essential. Book Online by selecting the area 'Cellar Door'.
Range of Wines
2014 Cups Cuvee
Our Sparkling Cuvee has been bottle fermented and has spent over 6 years on lees. This has given the Cuvee a fine, delecate bead, a traditional characteristic of the French Champagne. Crisp fruit up front and a dry finish.
2021 Pinot Gris
Aromatics of crunchy ripe green pear, quince, spice and honey. On the palate the wine is smooth and creamy with some savoury hints. The mid-palate weight is balanced by firm acid and a long lingering
2020 Pinot Rose
Made with our premium Pinot Noir grapes this wine is crisp and refreshing on the pallet. A versatile food wine that matches perfectly with seafood, charcuterie and white meats. The perfect Summer wine!
2019 Pinot Noir
This wine is delicate and elegant! A fragrant nose with a true 'Burgundian' character. Bright and uplifting yet with earthy characters that balance perfectly with the cherry characters of the fruit.
2021 'Raimondo Reserve' Pinot Noir
A single block wine selection of our very best Pinot Noir fruit. This wine is sophisticated and complex with a silky finish
2018 Syrah
A classic cool climate Shiraz with excellent length and balance. This light bodied wine is more French than Australian in style. Drinking lovely now but expect even further improvement over the next 5-10 years.
2021 Merlot
2016 Sparkling Shiraz
Our cool climate Shiraz lends itself to being made as a Sparkling Wine. This wine is luminous in colour with a delicate body and excellent balance of sweet and savoury characters.
SOLD OUT
2016 Moscato
Lifted floral, musk and confectionary aromas and hints of lime and spice. The slightly spritzy palate is luscious, vibrant and fruit filled with a crisp clean finish.
Winemaking
The Cups Estate wines are made carefully hand crafted in traditional methods, with a non-interventional approach including; low yields, low sulphurs, wild yeast fermentation and natural malolactic fermentation. The multi-award winning range of wines include; Sparkling Cuvee, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Rose, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Sparkling Shiraz, Moscato and Cuvee.
Winemakers Profile - Dr. Richard McIntyre
Born in Sydney in 1946, Richard spent most of his childhood in Dunedin, in the south island of New Zealand. After moving to Melbourne in 1961 he matriculated from Melbourne Grammar in 1963 and began his medical studies at Monash University, graduating M.B.B.S in 1969.
After eighteen months of national service in the RAAMC he underwent advanced surgical training at Prince Henry's Hospital- Melbourne before traveling with his wife Jill and young family to Oxford where he completed his D.Phil. in 1979. Richard returned to Melbourne in 1980 to take surgical position on the visiting medical staff of Prince Henry's Hospital and part time role as senior lecturer in the Monash University Department of Surgery.
Richard' love of fine wine began early- perhaps living s close to Otago in his childhood prepared him for his future second career. As a student Richard attended as many wine tastings around Melbourne as possible. He continued this habit in Oxford where he was exposed to the great wines of Bordeaux and more importantly Burgundy.
On his return to Melbourne he was adamant he wanted to try his hand at wine production and along with friend Garry Crittenden found a couple of likely sites on the Mornington Peninsula. The piece of land found was purchased in 1982 and was to become Moorooduc Estate. Under the guidance of consultant Nat White, Richard learnt to be a winemaker on the job.
Over the past 20 plus years, Richard has honed his skills and developed a style of winemaking that is thoughtful and considerate to the specific conditions and quality that every batch of fruit brings. He has participated regularly in workshops and tastings and has attended seminars to improve and update his knowledge and expertise. Many trips to Burgundy have informed Richards winemaking style- he always returns from these trips full of new ideas after pumping the local producers for information on traditional winemaking techniques.
Richard's fascination with the science of fermentation and the work of yeast, as well as a quest to produce a wine that is of the highest quality possible, that truly represents the terroir of its origin has lead to first experimentation with and now an adherence to wild yeast fermentation. He is one of the pioneers of and a strong advocate of this style of winemaking in Australia. It is this, and Richards strict adherence to quality at all stages of the winemaking process that has ensured his reputation as a winemaker of small batch, individual, handcrafted wines of the highest quality.
Vineyard
We believe that good wine is made in the vineyard. The Cups Estate wines are an expression of our vineyard and is the reason our wine is named after the land it lies on. The vineyard is situated in an area dubbed 'the cups and saucers' by the McCrae Family in the early 1830's because of the undulating sand dunes that form the many shapes of cups and saucers in the land. The area reaching from Fingal out towards Cape Schank is like no other on the Mornington Peninsula.
This makes the property's terroir unique, it is situated between the calm waters of Port Philip Bay and the howling winds of the Tasman Sea, giving the site a true maritime influence. The site is relatively low in elevation and lies on the famous sand belt that has attracted so many world class Golf Course. The sandy loam soil over limestone reefs provides great drainage and produce delicate and perfumed wines that display the true and multiple characteristics of each variety.
The Cups Estate practices meticulous and sustainable viticulture under the guided hand of Greg Thomson- long term Viticulturist at The Cups. The care of the vines is key to providing the best possible fruit for the winemaker. The hands-on attention includes; shoot thinning early in he season to achieve ideal shoot density in the canopy. Lifting three moveable wires progressively to produce a vertical canopy. Trimming at least once per year and leaf plucking on the east side of the canopy. All of these measure aid in providing the best possible balance of fruit to vine so that the grapes can be hand-picked at their ideal maturity.
The vineyard is mainly planted to Pinot Noir with smaller amounts of Shiraz, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Moscato and Pinot Menieur.