...everything about this wine exudes supreme class: the bouquet has a rose garden of perfume and spice, the palate a concerto for strings and clarinets, as predominantly red berry fruits glide around the finest quality tannins of the cello. The length and balance are awesome, and the wine will be singing soprano 20 years on from vintage. 99 points, Wine Companion.
Mount Mary is one of the great wineries of Australia, and has been for decades, but I’m pretty certain in the view that it is in the form of its life. The Mount Mary wines have never looked better. I wouldn’t bother drinking this as a young wine, as delicious as it is. It just looks so perfectly suited to the cellar; indeed it’s hard to imagine a young Australian Pinot Noir more suited. It’s pure, tight, bright and undergrowthy at once; it bristles with spice, woodsmoke and mineral; it flashes red berries and red roses as it soars through the finish. The acid and tannin profile of this wine puts on a masterclass on structure. I drank this wine over dinner a couple of weeks ago; I tasted this wine this morning at the tasting bench; in both environments it looked equally spectacular. 97 points, The Wine Front.
Yarra Valley
The Yarra Valley was first planted by the Ryrie brothers who explored a way through the Snowy Mountains to the Yarra Valley, planting grapes in 1838 just three years after the foundation of Melbourne. A wine industry (developed by Swiss Settlers particularly Hubert de Castella and Baron Guillaume de Pury in the 1850s) thrived during the gold rush era and heyday of the 19th century. However, the end of the gold rush brought the wine industry into decline and it was not until the 1970’s that the modern wine industry started up again. The region is probably Australia’s best-known cool-climate area, yet it is really a patchwork of meso-climates. This varied topography creates an incredible set of variables. Vineyards are planted on elevations of 50 to 400m on varying aspects and management programmes. The more exposed sites are subject to severe spring frosts and winds. Overall, the area experiences a relatively high rainfall pattern and is known for its temperature extremes during ripening. Site selection is crucial, with the best vineyards often located where the original vines were once planted, generally on sandy clay loams and gravels. The Yarra Valley is well known for high quality Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Blends with Shiraz increasingly garnering attention. Sparkling wine production is also extremely important, with many of Australia’s finest examples produced in the region.
