“If you have good grape juice, the role of the winemaker is not to screw it up.” Kermit Lynch.

Minimal intervention: the wine-making philosophy at Mount Terrible is based on traditional Burgundian methods.

Yields in the vineyard are kept below 1.5 tonnes to the acre. The grapes are picked by hand in late March or early April, on the basis primarily of flavour, at 13.5 – 14 degrees Baume. They are refrigerated on site within minutes of picking, then scrupulously sorted prior to crushing and destemming. The must, to which a variable percentage of whole bunches and also stems is added, is then held in stainless steel tanks for five days of cold maceration prior to the initiation of fermentation. Temperature during fermentation is controlled actively and there is a regime of strict four-hourly plunging.

On completion of primary fermentation, the wine is pressed off skins in a basket press and racked to barrel, where malo-lactic fermentation takes place. Aging takes place in French oak barriques, one third new, for sixteen to twenty months after which the wine is bottled, unfiltered, on site. It is then held in the cellar for a minimum of twelve months prior to release. The object of the exercise is to produce a complex, well-integrated wine, not raspberryade.

The 2006 and 2008 vintages were beautifully made by Jane Donat while she was at Delatite. Andy Browning, Jane’s worthy successor, presided over the 2010 vintage, which is shortly to go into bottle. It is tasting, at this stage, even better than its predecessors.

The 2011 vintage was divided into two identical parcels, one made by John and Jess Bolwell, Jamieson-born and California-trained winemaker, in the new on site facility and the other by Andy at Delatite. It will be interesting to compare the results.

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