KOOYONG

Kooyong Wines is a respected Australian winery and vineyard located on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, known especially for its premium Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. The estate was established in the mid-1990s by the Aylward family, with its vineyards first planted around 1996 and the first commercial releases appearing in the 1999/2001 vintages. The name Kooyong is said to mean “where the wild fowl gather,” reflecting its location near natural reserve land. 

Kooyong’s vineyards cover roughly 40 hectares and are planted predominantly to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with smaller plantings of Pinot Gris (and a little Shiraz in some sources), all suited to the cool maritime climate of the region. The Mornington Peninsula’s climate — influenced by proximity to Bass Strait and the Great Southern Ocean — along with varied soils and microclimates, helps the estate produce wines with elegant fruit expression, vibrant acidity, and fine structure. 

The winery and cellar door are now part of the broader Port Phillip Estate complex, following acquisition by Giorgio and Dianne Gjergja in the early 2000s; both brands share facilities including a notable tasting room and restaurant destination on Red Hill. Winemaking has been led in recent years by chief winemaker Tim Perrin, who focuses on minimalist intervention and site-expressive wines that reflect the distinct characteristics of individual blocks within the estate. 

Kooyong’s portfolio includes estate and single-site bottlings that showcase the diversity of its vineyard — often labelled by block names such as Meres, Haven, Ferrous, Farrago and Faultline — offering both core expressions and more refined, site-specific wines. These wines enjoy distribution domestically and internationally, and have helped cement Kooyong’s reputation as one of the Mornington Peninsula’s standout producers of elegant cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.