Mount Mary Scores Again

[Mahmoud Ali]

There was recent thread about how well a vertical of Mount Marys fared against a particular vintage of Bordeaux. This post is not an attempt to revisit some of the discussion in that post but rather to provide another insight into the quality and character of Mount Mary wines. I spotted some tasting notes from another forum where the 1985 Mount Mary compared favourably against a 1986 Bordeaux and thought readers here might enjoy seeing them. Anyway, the notes belong to Matthew Henning in the UK and the two reds were preceded by a couple of '85 white Burgundies.

Chateau Leoville Barton 1986

On first pour someone exclaimed ‘bloody hell, Barton ’86 might nearly be mature!’ The colour remains close to a deep, imperial purple and, whilst this will never be a generous style of claret, the tannins are now nicely melded into the rest of the structure. Resolutely dry, this has the tension and ferrous / bloody grip of the vintage. Grown up claret, and savoury rather than showing much fruit, this is drinking well but it’s just not desperately loveable. 17

Mount Mary Quintet 1985

Terrific, youthful, sweet and cedary wine and a very convincing ringer for serious claret. I’ve seen the 1990 vintage confused for Latour by some highly experienced tasters in the past. There’s a fresh, captivating leafiness that gives complexity and lift. It’s perfumed, sweet and the tannins are now fine and silky. I do get the feeling that this is better in riper vintages as the cooler years can get a bit too herbaceous / tomato-y, but this ’85 is stunning and gets that balance pitch perfect. Light on its feet and elegant. 18

I hope I haven't breached any forum rules but in case anybody wants to see the original post here is the link:

http://www.wine-pages.com/community/thr ... nner.2591/

Cheers ...................... Mahmoud.