NA ="Arthurs Seat, Red Hill, Dromana,";
FE1[0]=" The Mornington Peninsula boasts more than 110 vineyards and 30 boutique wineries, all within two hours drive of Melbourne. With its beautiful beaches and rolling hills the region is also a major tourist area, and Melbourne's forem";
FE2[0]="ost weekend and holiday destination. This means it has well-developed cellar-door facilities and numerous winery cafes and restaurants. A relatively young region, the Mornington Peninsula is best known for its medium-bodied dry ta";
FE3[0]="ble wines. Its marginal maritime climate means that its most successful wines are the chardonnays and pinot noirs, and it is beginning to achieve great success with sparkling wines. The wine region takes in the whole peninsula sta";
FE4[0]="rting at Mt Eliza just below Frankston. The main towns amongst the vineyards are Dromana, Red Hill South, Merricks and Moorooduc. Staying on the Peninsula when touring is easy because there are so many quality accommodation servic";
FE5[0]="es to choose from that suit varying budgets. There is also a great choice of restaurants and cafes with high quality food as we have come to expect from Victoria. There are numerous eateries at their cellar doors and getting round";
FE6[0]=" them is hassle free with a number of wine tour companies and shuttle services getting you there and providing insiders' knowledge about the best the Peninsula can offer. The Mornington has some great wine events including Peninsu";
FE7[0]="la Piers & Pinots in March, Red Hill and Sorrento Long Lunches also in March, Winter Wine Weekend in June and for Pinot lovers a Pinot Noir Celebration in February. The main grape varieties grown in the Region are Chardonnay, Pino";
FE8[0]="t Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. Some of the more innovative plantings include Pinot Gris, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.";
FE9[0]="";
LA1[0]=" The Mornington Peninsula consists of a ridge of granitic rocks and strata flanked by volcanics and sediments. Outside the granitic areas the Peninsula rarely exceeds 150m in elevation with the north-east mainly between 30-75 metre";
LA2[0]="s. The Peninsula wine region is defined by Western Port Bay to the west, Bass Strait to the south and Port Phillip Bay to the east. The Peninsula can be divided into three parts:1. Mornington Uplands - consists of a ridge of hard ";
LA3[0]="rocks with a thin cover of marine and terrestrial sediments. 2. Port Phillip Lowlands is represented by two formations, the Nepean Peninsula in the south which is a sandy bar separating Bass Strait and Port Phillip Bay, and the Ca";
LA4[0]="rrum swamp in the north. 3. Western Port lowlands consist of flat undulating country which has bedrock covered by sand ridges and sheets. The Mornington Peninsula drains via numerous small creeks and rivers to Port Phillip and Wes";
LA5[0]="ternport Bays on either side. The region is a cool area and is not subject to frost during the growing season because of its proximity to large bodies of water. The area enjoys good winter rainfall and has dry summers. Its souther";
LA6[0]="ly position and the moderating influence of the bays result in its being an area with perhaps the longest/slowest ripening conditions on mainland Australia. The Peninsula's hilly landscape means that orientation and aspect are ver";
LA7[0]="y important. Generally speaking, the landscape is open, with gently undulating hills, with endless vivid green pasture and white-painted fences. There are four principal soil types. The hard mottled yellow duplex soils with a very";
LA8[0]=" distinct break (marked by a thin, acid cement/sand pan) between the surface soil and the underlying friable well drained clay are to be found in the Dromana area. Around Red Hill and Main Ridge, red soils of volcanic origin predo";
LA9[0]="minate; these are very deep and fertile. In the Merricks area there are brown duplex soils, while much sandier soils are in evidence at Moorooduc.";
CL1[0]=" The region's climate is dominated by strong winds that sweep across Port Phillip Bay on its western flank and Bass Strait to the south. The region has a hills district rising 250m above sea level. Although rainfall is reliable sup";
CL2[0]="plementary irrigation is required at times during the growing season. Only the Margaret River and the Bellarine Peninsula can lay claim to such a profoundly maritime-influenced climate. The wind is either blowing from the north an";
CL3[0]="d west across Port Phillip Bay, or from the south and east across Bass Strait - and usually, in this part of the world, it is blowing from somewhere. That the climate is cool but the local climate is strongly dependent on site and";
CL4[0]=" aspect, for various weather stations provide heat summations ranging around 1080 near Main Ridge to 1240 at Dromana, and as high as 1570 at Mornington. Frosts are rare as are hot, dry winds. Temperatures are relatively uniform wi";
CL5[0]="th a small range compared to other areas in Australia. Relative humidity is high, stress is low, sunshine hours are abundant, and rainfall abundant during winter and spring. Location: 38°20'S, 144°58'E; Annual rainfall: 740 mm; Me";
CL6[0]="an January temp: 19.9°C.  ";
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HI1[0]=" The region is well known for agricultural production supplying the Melbourne markets with fruit, berries, vegetables and herbs. It is also an important recreation and tourist area mainly servicing the Melbourne population who floc";
HI2[0]="k to the area on weekends and holidays. This is a modern wine region. Although there was a dabbling in viticulture in the late 1800s and then in the 1950s,  it wasn't until Baillieu Myer of Myer stores planted vines in the early 7";
HI3[0]="0s did the region get started as a commercial wine producer. Many vineyards and wineries followed, most of them small, producing boutique wines and tapping into the tourism market with cellar doors and fine restaurants. Wine produ";
HI4[0]="ction on the Peninsula dates back to 1886, when Dromana wine won an honourable mention in the Intercontinental Exhibition. In 1891, fourteen Peninsula grape growers were mentioned in a Royal Commission into the Fruit and Vegetable";
HI5[0]=" Industry. In the 1920s, many of the Mornington Peninsula's vineyards were abandoned or uprooted. In the 1950s, Seppelt and Seabrook operated a vineyard in Dromana, but this was destroyed by fire in 1967. The renaissance of the re";
HI6[0]="gion's wine industry began in 1972 when a number of aspiring vignerons independently recognised the potential of the unique maritime climate of the Mornington Peninsula for producing high quality cool climate varieties, similar to";
HI7[0]=" those of the great wine producing regions of France. The maritime influence provides relatively high summer humidity and rainfall. The coincidence of late ripening and a prolonged gentle autumn, result in fully ripe grapes with o";
HI8[0]="utstanding fruit flavours, high natural acidity and fine tannins. The first commercial winery was built at Main Ridge in 1978, however, cellar door sales were illegal under the Shire Planning Scheme, but by the time the first vint";
HI9[0]="age was picked in 1980 the Scheme had been amended to allow sales from the cellar door with enthusiasts having to travel along unmarked, unmade roads to find the winery.";