Glenkeen Wines' place in the Bellarine wine region

Glenkeen Estate - the site, the surf

Glenkeen Estate is proudly located on the famed Great Ocean Road at Bellbrae, not far from the world renown bustling surfing town of Torquay on Victoria’s ‘Surf Coast’.

The most famous surf break in the area is Bells Beach, home to the iconic Bells Easter Classic one of the founding events on the World Surf Tour. The ringing of the ‘Bell’ by the winner of the event each year is high on the world’s greatest surfers bucket list, and perhaps many of your list as well?

Bells Beach acquired its name in the way that so many place names have been derived for millennia – the original access for surfers to the break was through Bell’s farm, a large 1000 acre swathe of land that was opened up by the Bell family in the late 1800s.

Glenkeen Estate is just one small aspect of the original Bells Farm that has been sold off piece by piece by the family over multiple generations.

Sharing a glass of Glenkeen Wine while sitting around the fire on New Years Eve, watching the midnight fireworks on the Mornington Peninsula over 50 kms away, is just one of the benefits our Glenkeen crew get to enjoy.

and now, for the wine nerds...

Through the wetter months, Jan Juc Creek emerges and flows through protected corridors of coastal eucalypt bush, splitting the property from west to east, as it makes its way from the heights of the property down to Jan Juc beach.

The Surf Coast is the southernmost sub district of the Geelong/Bellarine Wine Region, a internationally recognised grape growing and wine production Geographic Indication (GI).

Although grapes have been grown in the area from the mid to late 1880s the region itself is relatively young from a commercial point of view. Really taking off in the 1960s, the region is now known to produce exceptional Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay in the white category and Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz from red fruit. There is exciting potential for grapes such as Prosecco, Gamay and even Nebbiolo, to name a few.

The Bellarine is one of few regions in Australia that can be labelled technically cool climate according to Australia’s CSIRO. Defined as needing a median temperature of less than 19.5ºC over the whole year to be cool climate, The Bellarine GI, and in particular, the Surf Coast fit the bill with a 19.1ºC median. The European comparison to growing conditions this aligns with are famed regions such as Bordeaux, southern Burgundy, Beaujolais, northern Rhone and Barolo.

The site of the planned Glenkeen Estate vineyard has much in common with the most successful viticultural sites in the region. The soil profiles of the best vineyards in the Surf Coast region are on ancient, poor quality agricultural land that generally have a shallow loam top that sits on clay with a ground granite or limestone base. Generally great country for cropping sheep and growing the hardy grape vine, which works harder in poor soils to survive, expending less of its energy on fruit production.

As premium wine grape growers we want to pick smaller fruit (berries) in tightly packed bunches which helps intensify both the flavours and colours, important with reds once we start with fermentation. The exact opposite to what you are looking for in eating grapes bought in the summer months all over Australia. A well-watered vine on fertile soil will concentrate on creating the perfect seed pod to ensure as many of those seeds propagate. The upside for us is that a berry that is full of lightly flavoured water (95% of the berry is water) is perfectly refreshing eating on a hot afternoon but will only give us watered down wine, not our plan at all.

The 30 acre vineyard block has an easterly aspect which creates a small amount of protection from both the harsh late summer afternoon sun and the prevailing south westerly winds, which can be brutal through the winter months. Our proximity to the coast has the benefit of cooling sea breezes through the late afternoon, reinforcing a strong diurnal temperature distinction between the hottest & coolest points in each 24 hour window which is ideal for ‘balanced’ grape ripening.

Before you go...

Apologies to all you goofy footed, carving grommets through to the grizzled veterans, who like Dave can only get up on a long board, who got distracted at the first paragraph trying to work out if there is an off shore wind pulling up the peaks all along the Surf Coast and deciding you need to dust off the board & wettie (lose the suit) and hit the road to your favourite left or right hander.

Full disclosure, the other O’Bie, (me, Damon), much prefers a set of fins on staring down the drop of a 6 footer (ok 3 footer these days, but I’m allowed to reminisce) out the back of Juc, praying I don’t end up in the full cycle of the washing machine. To those that stayed with me, apologies for getting deep into the technical, but that is what we wine nerds do.

I really can’t wait to stroll through the vineyard one afternoon with you and a great glass of wine in hand, and take the discussion to the next level…

…or, stay tuned for a future blog in a similar vein, as we haven’t even got to clones, trellising options, pruning, bud volumes and expected bunch weights – are you excited? I certainly am!