Mt. Beautiful Pinot Noir 2017
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Wilfred
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Mt. Beautiful Pinot Noir is an excellent effort. TASTING NOTES: This wine is flavorful and well balanced. Pair its aromas and flavors of black fruit and earth with grilled hamburgers accented with wild mushrooms. (Tasted: September 18, 2019, San Francisco, CA USA)
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Wine Spectator
Firm and concentrated, with blackberry and blueberry flavors that mingle with muscular tannins, black tea notes and a thread of minerality that adds a savory element. Fresh herb details emerge on the finish. Drink now through 2025.
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Wine Enthusiast
A dense multifaceted nose from this quality North Canterbury producer reveals notes of black cherries, peppery herbs, violets, vanilla, warm stones and a slightly meaty funky nuance. Sturdy and relatively thick waisted, the palate is cinched with savory tight-grained tannins and a sweet brambly berry fruit flecked with herbal notes to finish. Drink now through 2026.
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Mt. Beautiful lies in the heart of North Canterbury, on the South Island of New Zealand. The Kaikoura Seaward Mountains lie to the North, while the Waiau River borders us to the North as well. The vineyard rests under its namesake, Mt. Beautiful. Mt. Beautiful crowns the coastal range to the East, and protects the vineyards from the ocean winds. Located about an hour and a half north of Christchurch on Route 1, Mt. Beautiful Winery is on the Northern fringe of the North Canterbury growing region. Lauded by many critics as New Zealand’s most underestimated wine region, it’s a place that has begun to get some incredible recognition. Mt. Beautiful’s wines are a stunning representation of the splendor of the region. The Sauvignon Blanc reaches through the herbaceous spectrum to carry flavors of tropical fruits, the Riesling is ripe with mandarin and citrus, the Pinot Gris is lush and exhibits a creamy mid palate, the Pinot Noir is soft, juicy, and inviting with a hint of cherry, and the Chardonnay is bursting with aromatics of ripe apple and stone fruits while finishing with a clean and crisp flint like minerality.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
On the central eastern coast of the South Island, Canterbury includes a collection of small and varied subregions. The region is cool and dry with low rainfall and light, infertile soils. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir are well-suited here, with Pinot Gris coming in third place.