How Gary Barlow embodies everything I believe about wine

Independent

18-05-2025

Last Friday night, I found myself sinking into the sofa after finally managing to settle my child who had been up and down more times than my sanity cares to remember. I was craving escape.
I started wistfully daydreaming about a trip to Australia that I'd taken earlier in the year (it's a place I often think of when overwhelm strikes). I was recalling a perfect day on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria that started with an early morning clifftop walk, overlooking the Southern Ocean, walking on sandy paths lined with coastal tea trees and a dizzying array of heathland grasses. It ended with an afternoon tasting some truly outstanding wine in the company of some wonderful winemakers. Bliss.
I soon drifted back to reality, and had a very pressing need to watch some light telly (don't tell me you don't sometimes crave exactly the same thing). And this is how I found myself watching Gary Barlow's Food and Wine Tour: Australia – what can I say? Call it market research for visioning my own wine TV show...
It was episode two and Gary just so happened to be in the wonderful state of Victoria – and visiting the Mornington Peninsula (aka, my favourite of the state's 21 wine regions). The segment was actually charming – he and friend Dannii Minogue were tasting wine at the highly respected producer Ten Minutes by Tractor. They even rode on some very cute tractors. But it was the tasting that really drew me in.
Here were two mates, enjoying wine tasting in the cellar door, chatting about soil types and the impact that this, along with topography, can have on the flavour in the same variety of wine. It was a pinot noir if you were wondering. And did I mention this was on ITV, prime time on a Friday?
It seems like such an age since we've seen a programme dedicated to great food and wine – let's hope that they're back for good. Yes, it's a bit twee, but I love seeing wine being enjoyed as part of the great conviviality of life. What is better than wine being enjoyed alongside some outstanding food in a light-hearted and warming way? Gary, I toast you for sharing your passion for the good things in life – not only with your famous mates, but with a chunk of the population, too. You're definitely embracing the 'less but better' mantra.
And how could he not love the Mornington Peninsula? It's a remarkable place, producing some of the best chardonnays and pinot noirs I've tasted. I'm not going to describe it as a 'hidden gem' – not least because it's a terrible phrase. But mostly because it's nowhere nearly hidden. In fact its headland sits at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, and therefore the entrance to Melbourne and is about an hour from the city. It's supremely accessible.
In just a short drive you're greeted with a veritable paradise made up of great beaches, both wild and rugged and protected and serene, along with a proliferation of outstanding places to eat and drink. The charming landscape of forest and heathland is interspersed with beautiful vineyards, and their inviting cellar doors. Everything about this area is welcoming – not just the juice and produce, but the people too. And it's all in such an unassuming and humble way that transcends beautifully to the wines.
No vineyard is ever more than 7km from the sea, so there is a cooling maritime influence which helps the wines to retain great acidity and freshness. And the producers on the peninsula really play to their strengths – concentrating on growing and making elegant chardonnay and pinot noir.
But here's the rub. We don't see nearly enough of them as we should in the UK. The small scale production means that many producers don't export, but perhaps with the trade agreement between Australia and the UK that was ratified in 2023 we may see more? We can but hope, and in the meantime, I can wistfully dream. The wines I've picked this week might not be from high up where the stallion meets the sun, but they're definitely a little bit magic.
Estate Chardonnay, Ten Minutes by Tractor, Mornington Peninsula, Australia, 2022
Available from Majestic, £49.00 per bottle, £42.00 (mix six), 12.5 per cent ABV
What a wine! Made by a highly regarded estate, this embodies everything that makes me excited about this region – super lean, bright and energetic chardonnay that gives you so much. Yes, it's not cheap – but it is such a treat. You can expect a glass full of lemon-citrus cream, licks of spicy vanilla and slices of white peaches that have just a little 'bite' to them – it's concentrated and has a joyously persistent length.
Quartier Pinot Noir, Port Phillip Estate, Mornington Peninsula, Australia, 2023
Available from Jeroboams, £22.95, 13 per cent ABV
I wonder if pound for pound you could get a pinot noir of this quality from Burgundy? Probably not. Made by a notable producer out of grapes from high quality sites across the peninsula, this is supremely affable pinot noir. The upfront fruit attack of fresh blueberries, plump red cherries and punnets of raspberry is supported beautifully by a hint of savoury cinnamon and an earthy, fresh soil note. It's gloriously moreish, beautifully soft and has good structure.
Campbells Rutherglen Muscat, Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia, NV
Available from Waitrose, £14.75, 17.5 per cent ABV
So this wine isn't from the Mornington Peninsula. Instead, we're in the northeast of Victoria. But I was so inspired by Gary Barlow drinking this with a giant slab of tiramisu, I just had to include it.
There is nothing quite like Rutherglen Muscat. Its history dates back over 150 years, so banish any ideas that Australia making wine was a relatively recent thing. It's a wine that can age exquisitely and has different expressions, according to producer and desired style. But it's universally linked by a glorious combination of decadent sweetness and concentrated flavours.
This five-year-old expression oozes freshly made marmalade, confected dried apricots, a hint of milk chocolate and salted caramel. Serve chilled over ice and bowlful of tiramisu the size of your head.