The Zumma

Originally stemming from a baby nickname for Garry and Margaret's daughter Zoe, The Zumma name was adopted by the family's 27 acre farm (now vineyard) when purchased in 1981. With such long held sentimentality it was the obvious name choice for the limited bottling of the wine produced from the same property's oldest vines. Grapes for The Zumma wines are sourced from a small portion of our original home vineyard proudly planted and tended to by the Crittenden family since 1982. Located on the lower, northern foothills of the Mornington Peninsula's Red Hill the site takes good advantage of the well draining loam soils and the cooling effects of Port Phillip bay 5km West. 

Crittenden Estate

More than 25 years of vine age and winemaking experience underpin the flagship wines produced under the Crittenden Estate label. Our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines are among the oldest on the Mornington Peninsula and have, over the years, consistently produced wines recognized as among the finest examples of their kind in Australia.

These hand crafted wines have built up an exemplary reputation in a rather short period of time. Known in the industry for their integrity and style, the wines are serious yet approachable. The Crittenden Estate range is what the Mornington Peninsula is all about enjoyable cool climate wines with intensity, elegance, complexity and finesse.

Any wine labelled Crittenden Estate is made from 100% Mornington Peninsula fruit.

Pinocchio

Consumer awareness and appreciation of wines such as Sangiovese and Arneis have expanded beyond recognition in Australia, as wine lovers begin to discover their point of difference from French varietals and their inherent synergy with food. The Pinocchio range of wines are best enjoyed with food and provide those in the company of friends with a wonderful way to discover, learn, experiment and embark upon a wine drinking adventure.

Geppetto

This is a small group of wines which, in our view, offer the opportunity to drink premium quality wines at a fraction of the price you might expect to pay.

Over the 25 years the Crittenden family has been involved in growing and making wine some enduring relationships with others in the industry have been developed. These relationships have given winemakers Garry and Rollo access to top quality fruit from one of their favourite regions in Australia: the mountains, valleys and high country of central and north eastern Victoria. Much (although not all) of the fruit for Geppetto is sourced from this region.

The Geppetto range of wines is meant for drinking. Every day if you want to! There is nothing overly complex about Geppetto; what you see is what you get. Designed to be accessible and honest, you will find the wines are consistent in their quality. Best shared with friends.

Los Hermanos

As a family we were at the forefront of promoting today's wine drinker's fascination with Italian grape varieties. Over the past couple of years we have been keen onlookers and admirers of a similar phenomenon with Spanish wines, albeit one driven more by wines from Spain than locally produced at this stage. We now have four wines under our Los Hermanos range: a red blend called Homenaje a Cataluna, a savagnin we call Tributo and a tempranillo. We also have recently added an exciting new wine, txakoli, the first of its kind in Australia. And what does Los Hermanos mean? Why siblings of course, what else!

Le Soula

I was in England in mid 2008 talking with Master of Wine, Richard Kelley from Richards Walford, a potential UK agent, about the import of our wines when he mentioned a French brand that they (the importer) jointly owned with, he said, an iconic French wine industry figure named Gérard Gauby. Of course I’d never heard of him. The wines, he told me, were from the Cotes Catalanes region high in the Pyrenees, hard up against the Spanish border and down towards the Mediterranean.
 
The gist of the story was that just as we were looking for an importer in the U.K, they were doing likewise for Australia. To cut a long(ish) story short I carried a couple of bottles back to Australia with me to taste with our team at Crittenden Estate. The reaction was nothing short of astonishing; none of us had tasted wine of this character, style and intensity before, it was a totally new experience for all of us. Nor were we overly familiar with the grape varieties that go to make up the blends in the two wines; Le Soula Blanc and Le Soula Rouge, and especially wines of this quality from Roussillon.
 
I set out to discover as much as I could about this remote, high and rugged part of the French landscape and the man behind the brand who did turn out to be as iconic as I’d been told; why I’ve even known Jancis Robinson to refer to him as such. The vineyards are in isolated locations where the main problems are wild boars, hail storms and the everpresent TRAMONTE winds all of which can cause huge damage (and losses) during the summer growing season. Another appealing aspect of the story from my perspective is that they are made entirely, from vineyard to bottle, without the addition of any artificial synthetic chemicals, fertilizers or additives whatsoever. These days Gérard Gauby has been joined by another emerging French wine maker Gérald Standley in his herculean endeavours.
 
Yields are set at amazingly low levels, rarely seen in Australia, most often less than one tonne to the acre; glad it’s them and not us! Well here we are almost two and a half years later with Richards Walford distributing our wines in the UK and Crittenden Estate selling Le Soula Blanc in Australia. This wine is by no means cheap, in fact far from it but for this we make no apology; you get what you pay for and this offering brings a whole new dimension to the ever changing world of wine.
 
We live in interesting times - do yourselves a favour and try them! (At this stage we are only selling the Le Soula Blanc.)