Mount Mary Pinot Noir

When Dr John Middleton planted his original Pinot Noir block in 1971 — sourcing material from Western Victoria that would eventually encompass more than 30 clones — he was building a library of genetic diversity that no single-clone planting could replicate. That original block, now joined by MV6 and 777 clones on American rootstocks planted from 2008, gives the winemaking team a palette of ripening windows and aromatic registers to draw from each harvest.

The estate sits on a gentle north-facing slope at Coldstream, where grey-brown sandy loam over rocky clay delivers sharp drainage and keeps vine vigour in check. Persistent sea breezes channelled from Port Phillip Bay and Bass Strait hold temperatures low through the growing season, preserving the taut acidity that defines the house style.

Fermentation runs a deliberately short 8–10 days on skins — brief by Australian Pinot standards — before 16 months in barrel, 25% new French oak barriques, a regime calibrated to frame rather than dominate the fruit. The result is a wine built for the cellar, not the counter. What sets this expression apart within Australian Pinot Noir is the sheer clone diversity underpinning it: where peers rely on one or two selections, Mount Mary's multi-decade accumulation of 30+ clones produces a structural complexity that reads as terroir rather than variety. The 2017 vintage in the Yarra Valley delivered a cool, even growing season with excellent natural acidity retention — expect this to be drinking well from 2022 through 2032.