‘Ten Minutes by Tractor’ (TMBT) was founded in 1997 on the Mornington Peninsula by three families whose vineyards were, well, ten minutes by tractor apart from each other. In 2003, the winery was purchased by Martin Spedding, who had worked in financial services and technology for many years and sought to follow his passion for wine. He classed the find as ‘the perfect scenario’, as each of the three vineyard sites were quite distinct in terms of their terroir and the styles of wine that could be produced. The Mornington Peninsula is regarded as having ‘the best ripening climate in Victoria for light to medium bodied wines.’ In February 2018, a fire destroyed a storage facility at the TMBT winery, with a loss of around $1million dollars’ worth of wines, including from the greatest wineries in France, which they had been collecting since 2007. Also destroyed were 12 pallets of TMBT wines, including magnums of back vintages. While there were no human casualties, as James Halliday wrote, ‘the tragedy was magnified by the irreplaceable nature of so much history.’ Nevertheless, TMBT has soldiered on, as the fire did not affect the winery operations, which only moved to TMBT in 2017 (previous vintages were made at Moorooduc Estate). The vineyards are moving towards full organic cultivation, which can only benefit the outstanding reputations of TMBT’s wines.
TMBT release a range of wines, from multi-vineyard blends to single vineyard bottles. The ‘10X Pinot Noir’ is their “entry level” red, with raspberry fruit on the nose and palate, light tannins and an easy finish. The ‘Estate Chardonnay’ is an elegant and delicate wine with white peach and lemon characters and medium acid to finish. The ‘Judd Pinot Noir’ is their premium red, with strawberry and vanilla oak on the nose and palate, with a mid-weight mouthfeel and soft tannins.
For more information on Ten Minutes by Tractor, head to the website.