First off, a big thank you to all of you for drinking our wine. It's been a busy few months here at Mont and sales are great, both here in Melbourne and interstate. We've shifted a fifth of our pinot noir after just one month, which is absolutely amazing. Oh, and Jen and I got engaged – that's good news too.
The bad news? I'm sad to say that things aren't looking so great for the next batch of pinot noir. Tough growing conditions on the Mornington Peninsula have led to really low yields, meaning we'll be producing maybe a quarter of what we managed this year. If you loved the '19 as much as we did, be sure to stock up while it's still available, and if you haven't tried it, well, now's the time.
But don't worry – there are still plenty of exciting things to look forward to. We're currently expanding the amount of growers we work with because we want to increase the amount of wine we're making. Not by a massive amount, just incrementally, because the focus is still on small parcels of fruit, high-quality grapes and small-batch wines. We're also keen to add some new varietals to the wine rack, so we're looking at a Sauvignon Blanc that will be a little more textural than your classic Marlborough examples, as well as a rosé and pinot gris, which we couldn't make last year but have really enjoyed in previous vintages.
For now, we have Shiraz and Sangiovese in barrels, both sourced from our old family vineyard in the Pyrenees, and there are plans in the works for a couple of tasting parties early next year. Assuming Victoria has this pandemic under control, we'd love to hold North of the River and South of the River events so everyone can drop by to say hello and taste a few of our wines.
This whole process of grape growing and winemaking is a labour of love. A very slow, sometimes torturous labour of love, but the effort is justified when we hear that you've been enjoying our wines. So please, let us know on social media or via email if you're drinking Mont and loving what we're doing, because we can't wait to bring you more wines soon!
Cheers,
Martin (Monty).
