Symons
Region: Mornington Peninsula
Mike has over 35 years of viticultural and winemaking experience under his belt. He cut his teeth in the Adelaide Hills under Brian Croser at Petaluma, before venturing to the Mornington Peninsula, where he worked for 18 years at Stonier; producers of premium Pinot. He has now put his depth and breadth of knowledge of the Mornington region to create his own label Symons.
He is an incredibly humble perfectionist, whose hours of work in the vineyard is reflected in his wines. His philosophy in winemaking is simple; if you put the time, care and effort into the vineyards, your winemaking will be rewarded.
History
Mike began his journey into wine by studying Agricultural Science at Adelaide University, after which he started his tenureship under Brian Croser at Petaluma, commencing in 1989. There was always incredible synergy between Brian and Mike, having studied the same course at Adelaide University and both being particularly passionate viticulturists. Both have always worked across both disciplines with a firm belief that site selection and management are integral to the success of the final wine.
After Lion Nathan took over Petaluma, Mike jumped ship to the big smoke and moved to Melbourne to work with Stonier. In this role, he managed a range of vineyards across multiple sites amongst the rolling hills of the Mornington Peninsula. This cool, Mediterranean climate region is surrounded by water on three sides, allowing for heat moderation, with higher heat summation than the Adelaide Hills. Mike stayed with Stonier for 18 years, through three ownerships until 2022, when he decided to return to his grassroots and start-up his own brand, Symons. Joining the impressive range of boutique and premium small producers in the region, he shares a winery with two other stars of the region, who share a similar mindset, one of which he consults for the winemaking.
Viticulture & Winemaking
His prized vineyard, which he formerly looked after in his Stonier days, is the Georgica Vineyard and the source of one of his Pinot Noirs. This 30-year-old vineyard is a classic warm site in a cool region, receiving lots of lovely, warm, sunshine hours in the daytime on an elevated position in Red Hill.
This Georgica Pinot Noir has a signature Mornington savoury envelope of tannin, showing potpourri and cherry characters with lovely aromatics, and some whole-bunch is used (more in warmer years, less required in cooler years), again with under 20% new French oak.
His Chardonnay comes from older vines, blending two vineyards found in the area of Merricks. They give a small crop of just over 4 tonne/ha, which is about 30% lower than average. The grapes are hand-picked and whole bunch pressed to two 3-year-old puncheons for fermentation and maturation with no malolactic fermentation. This wine has a delicate backbone, with fruits on the melon and citrus spectrum, with minimal use of oak to ensure the vineyard shines through.
The third wine, also a Pinot Noir, is a blend of three vineyards; part Georgica, part Robinson Vineyard in Tuerong and the final component from Merricks. This wine again takes on robust, savoury tannins but shows more raspberry fruit character. As the site is warmer than the Georgica vineyard, the wine sees more whole bunch, but less new oak– around 10%.
Mike’s philosophy in winemaking is simple; if you put the time, care and effort into the vineyards, your winemaking will be rewarded. It is far easier to make wine when your fruit is of exceptional quality. Use of oak is always restrained as he wants his hard work in achieving exceptional berries to be reflected in the wine, not disguised by winemaking. A minimal-intervention approach in the winery allows the nuances of the vineyard to be expressed.