| Mountford Vineyard Ltd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mountford is currently a small hillside vineyard with three hectares of Pinot noir and two hectares of Chardonnay producing about 2,000 cases on gently sloping land outside the door of its stylish homestead. The vineyards are tucked into the limestone-rich, Waipara Hills, one ridge removed from the broad, sweeping bay that stretches north from Christchurch onNew Zealand's South Island. The vest-pocket wine region is technically within the boundaries of Canterbury, which otherwise is mostly flat plains. The hills make a difference. Their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay clearly get riper here than they do on the plain, which is directly open to the ocean. The first vines were planted in 1991 using medium-density plantings. The first wines were made in 1995, and 1998 saw the completion of the winery and the first bottling of Mountford wine on the property. The winery includes a barrel store made out of shipping containers buried under the side of a hill to maintain a cool temperature. Future developments will see up to two hectares of Pinot noir on rootstocks being planted in a specially selected limestone-rich block behind the winery., has expanded its vineyard using close spacing and Burgundy-style low trellising on some steeper hillsides in back of the winery. That's the influence of C.P. Lin, Mountford's blind winemaker, who has made the last three vintages and introduced himself to his future employer in 1996 by tasting Mountford's first vintages and telling owner Michael Eaton, "These wines are crap." Eaton promptly gave Lin the challenge of making them better. C.P's. love of food and wine comes through in the wine produced here from grapes under the meticulous care of Mountford's Viticulturist, Gerald Atkinson. "We can make Pinot Noir with ripe flavors, rich texture and the right balance," Lin says. |
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