Region: Victoria
Sub Region: Mornington Peninsula
Variety: Pinot Noir
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2025
The Wine
Stonier was one of the pioneering wineries of the Mornington Peninsula, established in 1978 and instrumental in demonstrating the region's potential for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Today, the winery remains one of the benchmark names of the Peninsula, sourcing fruit from some of the region's finest vineyard sites.
The Merricks Pinot Noir is drawn predominantly from the Merricks vineyard, a site that consistently delivers fruit with aromatic lift, bright red fruit character and fine tannin structure. Located on the cooler western side of the Peninsula, the vineyard benefits from maritime influences that moderate temperatures and extend the growing season.
The fruit is hand-picked and fermented in small batches, with a portion of whole bunches included to build complexity and structure. Maturation takes place in French oak barriques, carefully managed to support the fruit rather than dominate it. The emphasis is firmly on purity, balance and site expression.
The 2025 vintage delivered excellent conditions for Pinot Noir, producing wines of freshness, perfume and precision that reflect the strengths of the region.
Cellared Says
Since returning to oversee the vineyards three years ago, Julian Grounds has been steadily steering Stonier back towards a more site-driven expression through organic farming principles and a renewed focus on vineyard health. The early results are impressive, and this debut Thompson's Lane release feels like a genuine statement of intent.
Reviews
"While it initially appears pretty and so aromatic, and it is, the palate is an explosion of flavour, power and definition. A rich combo of spiced sweet cherries, pips, toffee apple and pops of lovely stemmy flavours acting more as seasoning, alongside baking spices and cedary oak, which also pumps up the volume. Fuller bodied, with supple tannins and tangy acidity drawing this to a long finish."
96+ points - Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
"A magic resides on the dark side of the moon but how you get there no one knows, or in wine terms they don’t. It’s a magic dust that appears before you know what you did. This wine – so beautifully expressed and so beautifully extended – presents an array of savoury earth-like notes, which then run into florals and cherry-berry fruit. But whether this wine’s magic comes as a by-product of sweetness, sourness, creaminess and earth, or whether it comes via some unknown path, it’s near impossible to tell. But magic this wine most certainly has. So much so that I’m tempted to call it The One."
96 points - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
Region: Victoria
Sub Region: Mornington Peninsula
Variety: Pinot Noir
Country: Australia
Vintage: 2025
The Wine
Stonier was one of the pioneering wineries of the Mornington Peninsula, established in 1978 and instrumental in demonstrating the region's potential for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Today, the winery remains one of the benchmark names of the Peninsula, sourcing fruit from some of the region's finest vineyard sites.
The Merricks Pinot Noir is drawn predominantly from the Merricks vineyard, a site that consistently delivers fruit with aromatic lift, bright red fruit character and fine tannin structure. Located on the cooler western side of the Peninsula, the vineyard benefits from maritime influences that moderate temperatures and extend the growing season.
The fruit is hand-picked and fermented in small batches, with a portion of whole bunches included to build complexity and structure. Maturation takes place in French oak barriques, carefully managed to support the fruit rather than dominate it. The emphasis is firmly on purity, balance and site expression.
The 2025 vintage delivered excellent conditions for Pinot Noir, producing wines of freshness, perfume and precision that reflect the strengths of the region.
Cellared Says
Since returning to oversee the vineyards three years ago, Julian Grounds has been steadily steering Stonier back towards a more site-driven expression through organic farming principles and a renewed focus on vineyard health. The early results are impressive, and this debut Thompson's Lane release feels like a genuine statement of intent.
Reviews
"While it initially appears pretty and so aromatic, and it is, the palate is an explosion of flavour, power and definition. A rich combo of spiced sweet cherries, pips, toffee apple and pops of lovely stemmy flavours acting more as seasoning, alongside baking spices and cedary oak, which also pumps up the volume. Fuller bodied, with supple tannins and tangy acidity drawing this to a long finish."
96+ points - Jane Faulkner (Halliday Wine Companion)
"A magic resides on the dark side of the moon but how you get there no one knows, or in wine terms they don’t. It’s a magic dust that appears before you know what you did. This wine – so beautifully expressed and so beautifully extended – presents an array of savoury earth-like notes, which then run into florals and cherry-berry fruit. But whether this wine’s magic comes as a by-product of sweetness, sourness, creaminess and earth, or whether it comes via some unknown path, it’s near impossible to tell. But magic this wine most certainly has. So much so that I’m tempted to call it The One."
96 points - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
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