About This Wine
The Pinot noir vines were sourced from Western Victoria in 1971. This material was acquired before individual clonal selections were considered, and as such, our older Pinot blocks are a mix of many clones. A visiting French ampelographer (vine expert) once told John Middleton that there were in the order of 30+ clones in our original Pinot block. Subsequent plantings of Pinot on this site have been selections from the original block, and the clonal selection has been somewhat refined. There are also some newer blocks of Pinot planted (as of 2008) to American rootstocks and are of specific clonal material, namely MV6 and 777. In the winery the emphasis is on simplicity. By today’s standards, relatively short fermentations are employed, typically 8-10 days, with no cold soaks or post fermentation maceration. This is followed by 16 months of barrel maturation consisting of 25% new oak barriques. Minimal, if any, filtration is carried out prior to bottling. - Sam Middleton
This will be released in October 2017; please order as soon as possible as quantities are very limited.
| Type | Red Wine |
|---|---|
| Varietal(s) | Pinot Noir |
| Country | Australia |
| Region | Yarra Valley |
| Brand | Mount Mary |
| Vintage | 2016 |
Yarra Valley Wine
The Yarra Valley wine region is the most important area of wine production in Victoria today, and with its proximity to Melbourne, also the most visited in the state.
Yarra Valley is split into the Upper Yarra and the valley floor. The Upper Yarra is cooler in climate due to its elevation and coupled with younger, fertile, red soils produces most of the region’s notable varietals: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The valley floor is warmer and has predominantly grey soils with pockets of granite and limestone.
Pinot noir has long been considered a notoriously difficult variety to grow. However, the cool climate and longer growing seasons of the Yarra Valley allow the fruit to develop full flavoured and ripe character.
Chardonnay in the past has long been associated with a deep oily, buttery style that experiences full malolactic fermentation and great amounts of oak. This style has since fallen out of favour and wine makers in the Yarra Valley have capitalized on this trend to produce leaner, acid driven Chardonnays that are closer in style to those from Burgundy.