Vinoculation

Let me first qualify this post.

I love Mount Edward. I love Alan Brady, I love Duncan Forsyth, I love that they are going through organic conversion. Me likey.

But I do have high expectations. The 2007 Morrison Vineyard Pinot came across the tasting bench and I had to steady myself. This is a single vineyard Pinot from Mount Edward’s Lowburn vineyard. Lownburn is a subregion of Central Otago that seems to capture some intense heat and a little more rain than say Bannockburn or Bendigo, given its proximity to the Pisa Ranges. Straight examples of Lowburn fruit are few and far between, so this is an exciting release.

The wine exudes intense fruit aromas of macerated black cherries with the odd blackberry and boysenberry thrown in for good measure. It’s still very primary, as one would expect, having been in bottle less than a year. There’s an enticing floral element to the nose too, accompanied by sweet vanillin and briar. It’s a nose that speaks of the wine’s origins; far from being a stalky, gamey, leathery Pinot of the Old World, the fruit is so gorgeously attractive and ripe, so much so that you can almost taste the luxuriously fleshy and velvet texture just from a sniff.

In the mouth, it’s a seamless love story from start to finish. Silky, polished and all other verbose descriptors that conjure up thoughts of a freshly waxed sports car or similar; this wine is it. It’s scarily approachable on the palate for its youth, borne of a structure with impeccable balance right from the word go. More black-spectrum berry fruit, with a deft spicyness that plays attractively with the subtle acidity. The tannins on the first mouthful are very, very fine, so after a few more sips it was pleasing to find that they bulk up somewhat, which is how I like my tannins in Pinot. Great length with mulberry-esque qualities and all in all, a delicious Pinot. I really think this is a wine that will drink best in its first five years, but I’d love to be proven wrong. Only 48 cases made (!) and I suspect it has already sold out, but a great time to join the Mount Edward mailing list nonetheless.