Handpicked Wines: Serial Trophy Winners and their New Releases
13 Handpicked Wines
Wednesday, July 15th
Hosted by Peter Dillon | Chief Winemaker (TBC)
Masterclass: 5.30–7.00pm | 13 wines & canapés| $95
Dinner: 7.30–9.30pm | 13 wines and 4 courses | $195
About Handpicked Wines
Our wines proudly represent a mosaic of the most reputed grapegrowing regions. They not only reflect our search for exceptional quality, but also the practices that bring out the best in each vineyard while expressing our genuine commitment to sustainability and respect for the land.
We began crafting wines from the world’s best wine regions at the turn of the millennium, delighting those eager to discover new varieties or explore the nuances of regionality through our wines. It didn’t take long for us to realise that in order to make truly great wines that express the best of their region we had to invest in special vineyards and passionate people.
Our devotion to and love for the land grew stronger vintage after vintage, ultimately becoming the proud custodians of our flagship vineyard in the Mornington Peninsula. Appropriately named after one of the brightest stars in the night sky – Capella – its dazzling beauty proved to be the ideal site to establish a winery, where some of our most iconic wines are produced.
Now after a decade lived amongst the vines, we have woven an inseparable connection between the land and the quality behind our wines. We have not looked back since, and today we are proud of having acquired other significant sites in the Yarra Valley, Barossa Valley and most recently Tasmania, which have allowed us to showcase the diverse regionality that exists in Australia, and earn a reputation as a top Pinot Noir producer along the way.
Our winemaking and viticulture team work relentlessly throughout the season to produce fruit of exceptional quality to best express regionality. Our organic certifications are a testament to our passion for sustainable winemaking, minimal intervention, and respect for the land. With the recognition of our fortune in managing these sites, we also understand the responsibility we have in ensuring that their terroir continues to speak through the wines we craft with a supreme sense of place.
(Handpicked Wines, ‘Our Story’)
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Collection Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2022
Trophy Winner – “Yarra Valley Best Chardonnay”, James Halliday Australian Chardonnay Challenge 2024
Top Gold & 96 points - James Halliday Australian
Chardonnay Challenge 2024
Collection Tasmania Chardonnay 2022
Trophy Winner – “Best Chardonnay”, Tasmanian Wine Show 2024
Trophy Winner – “Tasmania Best Chardonnay”, James Halliday Australian Chardonnay Challenge 2024
Top Gold & 96 points - James Halliday Australian
Chardonnay Challenge 2024
Single Vineyard Wombat Creek Chardonnay 2022
Trophy Winner – “Best Victorian Chardonnay”, Melbourne
Royal Wine Awards 2023
Trophy Winner – “Best Australian Chardonnay”, Melbourne
Royal Wine Awards 2023
Trophy Winner – “Best Young White Wine”, Melbourne
Royal Wine Awards 2023
Gold - Melbourne Royal Wine Awards 2023
Single Vineyard Capella Chardonnay 2021
Gold - Royal Queensland Wine Awards 2023
Gold - Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 2022
Gold - James Halliday Chardonnay & Cabernets Challenge 2022
Collection Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir 2021
Trophy Winner - “Best of Region”, Australian Pinot Noir
Challenge 2022
Gold - Royal Queensland Wine Awards 2023
Single vineyard Capella Pinot Noir 2021, Our Price $81
Trophy Winner - “Best Pinot Noir Mornington Peninsula
Wine Show 2022
Trophy Winner - “Best Pinot Noir”, Australian Pinot Noir
Challenge 2022
Gold - Australian Pinot Noir Challenge 2022
Gold - Mornington Peninsula Wine Show 2022
Gold - Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 2022
Gold - Sidney Royal Wine Show 2022
Peter Dillon | Chief Winemaker
Peter joined the Handpicked family in 2014, before becoming Chief Winemaker four years later. His familiarity with site specific wines, in combination with the cool-climate pedigree of our flagship vineyard Capella has allowed him to craft wines that offer a true sense of place.
Wearing a second hat as Director of Viticulture, he oversaw vineyard holdings expansion to the Yarra Valley, Tasmania and Barossa, and as a result travels extensively to ensure quality throughout these vineyards and other regions across Australia and beyond, where he oversees grape growers who have become part of the Handpicked family.
The Wine List
On Arrival
2024 Mingary Road Mornington Pinot Gris [New Release]
At first, this seems reticent, with light aromas of lemon blossom and ginger flower, but it does open in the glass. The palate is refreshing – you could say lively – with some zippy acidity melding into delicate flavours of fresh pears and dried ones, nashi also, pastry, lemon oil and oak spices, plus an intriguing, almost zinc-like character. It finishes short, but it’s a delightful drink.
94 Points - Jane Faulkner [1 June 2026]
1st Bracket
2023 Handpicked Mornington Chardonnay [New Release]
2022 Handpicked Yarra Valley Chardonnay
Highly appealing and in a perfect drinking zone with its subtle lemon blossom and ginger aromas, a little flinty, too. The palate is still tightly reined in by the refreshing acidity, yet plenty of white peach, lemon/grapefruit and spicy oak flavour, with a slip of creaminess/nuttiness from lees adding texture. It remains a little savoury and very refreshing.
93 Points - Jane Faulkner [10 February 2026]
2023 Handpicked Capella Vineyard Chardonnay, Mornington Peninsula [New Release]
Intensely aromatic, the palate opens with layers of citrus and white stone fruits, some gun flint with a delicate mineral edge.
Winemaker Notes
2022 Handpicked Wombat Creek Chardonnay, Yarra Valley
2nd Bracket
2023 Handpicked Tasmanian Pinot Noir [New Release]
Rich morello cherry and fenugreek spice, accented by blood-orange and red/black cherry layers. Elegant, perfumed, with fine tannins that guide a lingering finish.
Winemaker Notes
2023 Handpicked Mornington Pinot Noir [New Release]
Vibrant redcurrant and mixed cherry fruits with potpourri hints. Silky tannins and bright acidity deliver a clean, lively finish.
Winemaker Notes
2023 Handpicked Yarra Valley Pinot Noir [New Release]
Wild strawberry and mixed cherries on the nose, with anise and cinnamon. The palate reflects the parentage of each of the sites – weight, texture and black fruits from our Highbow Hill site, and juicy layers of fruit paired with a discrete acid and fine boned structure from the Wombat Creek portion.
Winemaker Notes
3rd Bracket
2022 Handpicked Auburn Road Pinot Noir, Tasmania
2023 Handpicked Capella Vineyard Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula
This has come together well from the fruit profile, all bright cherries, through to its structure, fuller bodied and complete. It’s also awash with spices, licorice, dried mint and sumac. Quite moreish and savoury, the oak integrated and with textural tannins that complement the juicy acidity.
95 Points - Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion [July 2025]
2024 Handpicked Highbow Hill Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley
4th Bracket
2018 Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon
Captures the essence of Margaret River in a very good year. Engaging aromas of blackcurrant with a layer of dark chocolate and a subtle graphite minerality and dried herbs. A seamlessly structured palate with fine grainy tannins providing structure. There is power here as it drives through to a very long finish.
93 Points - Ray Jordan, RayJordanWine.com
2017 Handpicked Collection Barossa Valley Shiraz Jeroboam
Beautifully ripe and fragrant with blackberry, sweet cherry, vanilla, mixed spice and roasted nut characters, it's supple and juicy in the mouth delivering fleshy texture and silky flow. Flavoursome and delightfully appealing. At its best: now to 2028.
Wine Orbit