There’s a fresh current moving through the southern folds of the Mornington Peninsula, and Kerri Greens is among its most expressive voices. Named after a surf break on the wild southern edge of the Mornington Peninsula, this exciting young label was founded in 2015 by Lucas Blanck and Tom McCarthy as a creative outlet alongside their work at a pioneering organic estate.
The catalyst came with the discovery of the secluded Hickson Vineyard in Balnarring—an old-vine site full of untapped potential. After careful regeneration, the vineyard produced Chardonnay of striking natural expression, intensity and energy. The first Hickson Chardonnay was bottled in 2015, made with a gentle, intuitive approach that allowed the vineyard to speak of its place.
Winegrowing, for Lucas Blanck, is inheritance before it is profession. Raised at Domaine Paul Blanck et Fils in Alsace, he belongs to one of those European families for whom vines are woven into the grammar of daily life. Apprenticeships with estates such as Domaine Zind-Humbrecht and Trimbach sharpened both his technical instincts and his sensitivity to site, though it was Australia — and specifically Mornington — that offered him room to reinterpret those instincts more freely.
At Quealy in Balnarring, where he became vineyard manager during the estate’s organic transition, Blanck developed an increasingly rigorous belief in biological farming and vineyard equilibrium. That philosophy now lies at the centre of Kerri Greens. Herbicides, systemic fungicides and insecticides have no role here. Sheep wander the rows as mowers; cover crops restore vitality to the soils; the aim is to work solely with dry grown fruit. This objective is neither ideology nor nostalgia, but vitality: fruit with brightness, savour, and natural acidity intact.
The vineyards themselves each contribute a distinct intonation to the range. Alongside Hickson. Silverwood, planted in 1998 on a north-facing slope in Balnarring, yields Pinot Noir and Chardonnay of detail and suppleness. Kayes, in Red Hill South, sits higher and cooler above Western Port Bay, where wind and delayed ripening preserve aromatic tension. From a small parcel of old-vine Riesling there emerges Citrea, one of the more intriguing Australian Rieslings of recent years — a wine whose shape seems to hover somewhere between Clare, Alsace and nowhere but itself. More recently, the Turners site in Tuerong has added further nuance to the Pinot Noir programme.
“Kerri Greens (named after a local surf break) offers excellent and energising wines. Lucas Blanck (son of winemaker Frederic, from Domaine Paul Blanck in Alsace) is viticulturist and winemaker. Organics, sustainability and treading gently are essential considerations. It’s also a family business strengthened by Alyce Blanck (Lucas’ wife), who is very much at the forefront. This duo are respectful of a wine region that nurtures them, yet not afraid to
shake things up.”
Jane Faukner, Halliday Wine Companion
In 2023, Lucas and his wife Alyce took full ownership of Kerri Greens, beginning a new chapter for the label. An equally important presence is assistant winemaker and viticulturist Linda Stanzel, whose sensibility appears deeply aligned with Blanck’s own. Linda does a mean Instagram too! Together they pursue wines of transparency rather than architecture. The Pinots are fully destemmed, élevage occurs mostly in seasoned larger-format oak, sulphur additions remain modest, and fining is avoided. Filtration, when used at all, is rare. The intention throughout is not to decorate the wines, but to preserve their pulse.
All of this work is naturally reflected in the quality and style of wines, which are full of joie de vivre while never feeling flippant. The Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs seem effortless in their texture, purity and site-driven personalities. There’s a particular focus on the aromatic varieties, perhaps unsurprising given Blanck’s Alsatian heritage. In particular, KerriGreens’ Rieslings—made in contrasting old- and new-world styles—are justly drawing effusive praise from critics and consumers alike. But regardless of variety, Kerri Greens does not seek the polished certainties of the Mornington establishment Australian wine culture. Its bottles feel instead like dispatches from the Mornington underground — thoughtful, vivid and alive with the exhilaration of discovery.
