Photos of Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir Celebration by Janiice House Photography
Connection to Country resonates with Peninsula wine producers Blue smoke wafts gently up into the trees on the edge of the Red Hill Showground, catching shafts of morning sun as it rises. As Bunurong elder Uncle Alvin Rajkovic gently fans a pile of smouldering leaves, a large group of winemakers, grape growers and vignerons line up to walk through the smoke and wrap themselves in the scent of manna gum, wattle and cherry ballart. (8
“The manna gum represents community and knowledge,” says Uncle Alvin. “The wattle pays our respects to our tools, the black wattle boomerangs we made to feed our families. And the cherry ballart represents the children; they’re our future. The decisions we make today are going to affect their tomorrow.” It’s February 2023 and this Welcome to Country ceremony – this tanderrum – is taking place at the 10th anniversary of the Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir Celebration, a biennial event that attracts hundreds of wine-lovers from around the world. As well as being a moving experience for the participants, the ceremony also captures much of the ethos both of this year’s celebration and of broader thinking in the world of wine and drinks, an increasing awareness of
and engagement with the Indigenous history and culture of where our drinks are grown and made and a deepening focus on sustainability. Look on the label of the next pinot gris or pinot noir at cellar doors across the Peninsula, or take a look at the wineries’ websites, and you’ll see a growing number of producers acknowledging that the region is Bunurong Country and paying respects to elders past and present. It’s a recognition that the way wine people talk about terroir – the concept that the combination of a vineyard’s environment, climate and culture produces unique flavours in the wine grown there – can resonate with the Aboriginal concept of “connection to Country”. This intertwined idea of custodianship is also inspiring an increasing number of eatdrinkmornpen
