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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.4 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 12 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Sonoffalstaff on 4/18/2024 & rated 89 points: Agree with most of the notes below but a slightly musty nose ( not vanilla to mine) knocked the pleasure off it. Super long taste with lovely mouth watering acidity. Very correct wine but not sure there was enough fun for the price point (226 views) | | | Tasted by NoahCap on 2/26/2024: As mentioned in many of the tasting notes, the nose of this wine has a very rich lemon smell- lemon curd, lemon meringue pie, preserved lemons. There's some riper pineapple notes lurking in the background as well. The nose is really nice overall, though I'm not a fan of the vanilla oak aromas that are bit much for me. The wine is medium to medium plus in body, with a nice amount of refreshing acidity. Like the nose, the flavors are rich lemon and oak. This is really high quality stuff, but the oak is a little clumsy, and unfortunately, gets worse with a couple nights in the fridge. Don't get me wrong, this wine is very nice, and will appeal to many, it's just not quite the style I usually gravitate towards. Recommend you pair it with something a bit on the rich side. (486 views) | | | Tasted by grub94 on 11/23/2023 & rated 92 points: Agree with Ernest's 5-24-23 note. Love the lemon curd and green apple. Thank god they did not do any malo. Soft balanced acidity and longish finish that reveals some honeydew notes and stones. (484 views) | | | Tasted by Montesquieu on 8/12/2023 & rated 93 points: I'll again give this a 93 on my second try. Top impression on first taste was of lemon. Balance of minerality and butter. I suspect this will improve further with age as the flavor profile softens. (894 views) | | | Tasted by Nothung on 7/29/2023 & rated 94 points: Wow! What a great glass of chardonnay! Just beautiful. (826 views) | | | Tasted by Ernestas on 5/24/2023 & rated 93 points: Smooth, elegant & refined Chardonnay made from ripe grapes without malolactic conversion, aged for 11 months in FR oak, 30% new. Pale lemon. Intense aroma of acacia, smoke, lemon curd, ripe apples, almonds, reductive notes, toasted oak, gun flint. Medium body, rich and complex with elegant velvety texture, fresh, intense and persistent flavours of peaches, melons, honey, toasted and gun flint hints. All elements are bound together by racy and well integrated high acidity making it energized and so well balanced. (846 views) | | | Tasted by Breguet on 5/5/2023: Error (767 views) | | | Tasted by Montesquieu on 3/1/2023 & rated 93 points: Not on the same level as Aubert Lauren, against which it was paired. The butter and cashew (as another mentioned) didn't please quite as much. A very good, but not exceptional, Chardonnay. (764 views) | | | Tasted by fizz on 10/8/2020: Screw cap.
Aromas of lemon, oatmeal, cashew. Mid weight, but quite rich in the mouth. Then finishes clean and reasonably tight. It’s deliciously balanced and should cellar well. (1444 views) | | | Tasted by drjb on 9/5/2019 & rated 93 points: Tasted at the Mount Mary Dinner, Stokehouse Q. Bottle under Stelvin this wine was a pale, clear green-gold with a fine nose of pear, white nectarine, lemon and touches of cashew and mineral. The is quite undeveloped and austere yet has a lovely line and grip with plenty of depth from which I would expect significant development albeit slowly under Stelvin. Lovely wine ! (1839 views) |
| NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JancisRobinson.com and The WINEFRONT and JamesSuckling.com and Halliday Wine Companion. (manage subscription channels) |
| Mount Mary Producer website
OUR HISTORY
John Middleton – Founder
John led a very active and healthy life during which much was achieved. He came to Lilydale in 1952 after service in the RAAF and medical training at Melbourne University. Although he had the opportunity to specialise, he chose to establish himself as a much-loved family doctor in what was then, a predominantly rural community. His fascination with wine began in his late teens and never faded. Mount Mary was the vehicle by which he fulfilled his dream to produce wines of great quality. John died in 2006 at 82 years of age, after a short illness.
Mount Mary is a family owned, single vineyard estate located in the heart of the Yarra Valley which lies in the south-eastern corner of Australia to the east of Melbourne in the state of Victoria. Established in 1971 by John and Marli Middleton, Mount Mary was one of the first vineyards planted in the resurgence of the Yarra Valley as a premium wine producing region.
The inspiration behind the planting of vines in the Yarra Valley came from the Swiss settlers of the 1850’s. These worldly and hard working immigrants had been greatly influenced by the French wine producers and recognised the climatic parallels the Yarra Valley shared with Bordeaux and Burgundy.
After extensive visits to the wine producing areas of the world in the late 1960’s, and in particular those of Bordeaux and Burgundy, John and Marli became fixated on French premium wine. They resolved to find a suitable site upon which to establish a small commercial vineyard with the intention of making elegant, low alcohol wines from French varieties. John was obsessed at this stage with an idea put in his head by Colin Preece of Great Western, that Australia was yet to produce a refined and elegant Cabernet. John saw it as his duty to work towards this.
And so it was that in 1971, John and Marli stumbled upon the property known as Mount Mary. Surprisingly this ideally located, gentle north facing slope had not been planted to the vine yet they immediately recognised it as being ideal for their purpose. The first plantings were completed by mid 1972 and today Mount Mary has around 40 acres under vine representing 18 varieties of varying age and distribution.
The four wines produced by Mount Mary come from 10 varieties. Two wines are based on Bordeaux blends accounting for 8 varieties and two wines are the common varietals from Burgundy. Over the past few years we have been developing a new blend from the Rhone Valley based on 7 varieties not previously planted here. For those of you who add things up, the 18th variety is Pinot blanc which we have never done anything with but who knows what the future holds!
Mount Mary has established a dedicated clientele of private mailing list customers and has a national distributor to selected restaurants and retail outlets. We place great importance on consistency of style and quality as well as shying away from public exposure and promotion. We have always preferred to let the wines do the talking.
OUR ENVIRONMENT
More than half the land area of Mount Mary is not directly related to wine production. The health of our property is of primary concern and we have the long term objective of being self-sufficient in energy and water. We are also keen to limit our impact on the environment through revegetation and weed control. Despite the many challenges that have been presented to us over the past few years, progress towards our environmental goals continues. Whilst we still have a long way to go in terms of becoming the ideal environmentally aware organisaton, we have continued with our planting program and our water and energy system designs. This year work has begun on the reticulation of our harvested water supplies, the modernisation of our winery wastewater management and the energy efficiency of winery. Our revegetation areas are already attracting increased numbers of native birds and our Snow Gum conservation area is looking good. We are continuing with our program of collecting a variety of native seed for propagation.
In the past two years we have been fortunate to be a part of Melbourne Water’s Stream Frontage program. Although both drought and flood have played a part in limiting the establishment of young plants, we will continue to work on these areas through 2011. Also on the agenda is the completion of our gully wetland project.
The ultimate goal of our environmental works is to be energy and water efficient relying less on outside supply, provide additional habitat for native species and to limit our negative impacts by containing and treating waste products on site. Renewable power, water collection and recycling and redesigned facilities are at the centre of these improvements.
2017 Mount Mary ChardonnayChardonnay remains the premier white grape of the Yarra Valley. In seasons like 2017, we believe it can rival some of the best Chardonnays of the world. Our newest Chardonnay blocks are now approaching 10 years of age, adding an extra layer of clonal diversity to this wine when blended with our older plantings (now reaching 35-45 years of age).
The nose of the 2017 Chardonnay opens with citrus characters, lemon curd, some riper melon nuances, along with struck match, toast, and almond meal.
The palate is fine, elegant and pure with flavours of citrus, grapefruit, honey and some very appealing toasty oak complexities. The defining feature of this wine on release is the pristine acid line and tremendous length. While the palate shows ample generosity now, expect this wine to build concentration over the next few years as it relaxes a little in bottle. – Sam Middleton
The 2017 growing season saw perfect rainfall accompanied by warm days and cool nights leading into a long Indian summer. This particular set of weather conditions was exactly what inspired John to establish Mount Mary in the Yarra Valley, back in 1971 and more akin to what we experienced through the 90s than to more recent trends. The mild, long and drawn-out growing season enabled flavours to develop slowly and reach full ripeness while grapes maintained exceptional acid balance, vibrancy and freshness. 2017 is the perfect example to describe just how special and unique the Yarra Valley can be as a premium cool-climate wine producing region. The season has delivered wines of exceptional energy, elegance and purity of fruit.” – Sam MiddletonMount Mary ChardonnayWe aim to make a Chardonnay with great length, which reaches a balance between richness and elegance. While some techniques are borrowed from the Burgundians, there are some departures from traditional practice in response to local factors, which ensures a unique wine. The most notable of these is that our Chardonnay does not undergo malolactic fermentation, as our local climate leaves the fruit with ideal acidity when it is picked. Our Chardonnay is matured in 30% new French oak barriques with the remainder in older barrels and large casks (1500L). The entire production is barrel fermented. Relatively hard pressing is employed to give the wine texture and lees stirring is carried out to add complexity and body. The Chardonnay is matured in barrel for 11 months prior to bottling.Chardonnay The Chardonnay GrapeAustralia Wine Australia (Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation) | Australian Wines (Wikipedia)Victoria Wines of Victoria (Victorian Wine Industry Association)Yarra Valley Wine Yarra Valley (Yarra Valley Wine Growers Association) |
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