Mountford The Gradient Pinot Noir 2009 750ml (750ml)

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Price: $199.99

6+ Price: $89.99 / btl

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Producer	Mountford
Country	New Zealand
Region	South Island
Varietal	Pinot Noir
Vintage	2009
Sku	NZ-RD3
Size	750ml

 

This show-stopping '09 Pinot Noir explodes from the glass with fistfuls of ripe, lush red and blue fruits, crushed rocks, savory herbs, warm loam, and a wafting of smoke, spices and violet petals. A seductive, full-bodied wine, the '09 Gradient fills the mouth with texture, scents and flavors, balancing its dry extract with lithe acidity, and offsetting its chewy tannins with a sweet inner lift as the finish showcases the wine's savory underpinnings--just delicious! The first single-vineyard Pinot Noir from the cult Mountford Estate in Waipara, New Zealand, the Gradient Pinot Noir made its debut in 2006. Handcrafted in Burgundian fashion, whole, organically farmed Pinot clusters are stomped under foot, fermenting with natural yeasts for ten days, and the wine ages in wholly new barrique for twenty months.

Founded in 1991 by Buffy and Michael Eaton, the boutique Mountford Estate is located in New Zealand's famed Waipara Hills, which sit about 40 minutes north of Christchurch. Located within an area known as the "golden mile,"the 22-acre Mountford estate's showcase is its limestone-rich Mountford Hill, a steeply pitched hill with ideal sunlight and marl soils that's planted to Pinot Noir, and this prestigious site serves as the basis for Mountford's esteemed Mountford Estate, The Rise and The Gradient Pinot Noir bottlings. World-famous winemaker CP Lin helmed the estate from 1997 to 2003, during which time the estate was sold to Kees Zeestraten and Kathryn Ryan, a Dutch couple. In 2017, trained enologist Takahiro Koyama purchased the Mountford estate. For Koyama, this was a kind of homecoming, for he had been mentored by CP Lin as assistant winemaker from 2007 to 2012. Koyama's return to Mountford is a boon to the wine's many fans, and there's no question that the estate will once again b