Wineshark Wine Tasting - Mount Pleasant Winery

This estate has a long and rich history, all beginning in 1880 when English immigrant Charles King planted the Old Vine Vineyard on rich, volcanic soil in the Parish of Pokolbin, at the southern end of Hunter Valley.

In 1897, the founder of Mount Pleasant and legendary winemaker, Maurice O'Shea, is born. Maurice studied viticulture and oenology, before lecturing at France's Montpellier University. At the age of 24, he persuaded his widowed mother to purchase the King family's 16.3 hectare Hunter Valley property and two adjoining parcels of land, on which the Old Paddock Vineyard is formed. O'Shea named the property Mount Pleasant.

In 1932, the McWilliam family, already famous for their fortified wines, purchased a half share of Mount Pleasant Estate and encouraged Maurice to continue with his winemaking. And by 1941, the McWilliam family acquired the remaining share of Mount Pleasant Estate, retaining Maurice as Chief Winemaker and Manager.

In 1946, Maurice planted the Lovedale and Rosehill vineyards. Ten years later, unfortunately, Maurice died at the young age of 59. By 1990, the McWilliam family decided to inaugurate the prestigious Maurice O'Shea Award as a tribute to Maurice's remarkable innovation and foresight.

In the 2005 edition of James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion, the 2000 vintage of Mount Pleasant Maurice O'Shea Shiraz outscores Penfolds Grange and Henschke Hill of Grace as the highest rated Shiraz.

The Old Hill

The vines on the old hillside have seen three centuries, countless droughts and adversity, and they are now as much a part of that land as the soil and earth.

English immigrant Charles King planted the Old Hill Vineyard on rich, volcanic soils in Pokolbin in 1880. The particular volcanic structure found on the Old Hill, formed over millions of years, can only be found in a small number of patches in the Hunter Valley. These sites create distinctive, earthy reds with the structure and fruit intensity to last decades.

Old Paddock

When Maurice O'Shea purchased Mount Pleasant in 1921, he extended the land holding with the purchase of two adjoining parcels of land - it is here that Old Paddock is planted.

The deep red volcanic loams of the Old Paddock have allowed the vines over more than 90 years to penetrate and bury their roots into the underlying bedrock, providing them with nourishment, resilience and protection.

Estate

Against the picturesque backdrop of the Brokenback Range and neighboring the Old Hill and Old Paddock vineyards, vines stretch across the landscape and produce a variety of grapes which make their way into wines in the Mount Pleasant range.

The Estate Vineyard consists of a group of blocks that include the MV6 clone plantings on the Mothervine Old Vine Pinot Noir block, which was first planted in 1921 and is one of the oldest plantings of Pinot Noir in Australia. The vineyard also includes Mountain A Old Vine Shiraz and a mixture of varieties that vary in age, stretching from recent years to the vineyard's early origins.

Rosehill

O'Shea renamed the property the Rosehill Vineyard in 1945, and the area was planted to Hermitage, as Shiraz was called in those days, proving an outstanding success.

Once the home of volcanic activity, the Rosehill Vineyard is located at one of the Hunter Valley's highest elevations.

Now regarded as one of the elite vineyards of Hunter Valley, Maurice O'Shea negotiated to purchase the land from Emily Dunn during the Second World War, in March 1945. He was looking for a similar site to that of Mount Pleasant and what he found was 22 hectares of rich, volcanic loam soil with patches of limestone and eroded basalt. This fertile soil is ideal for producing full-flavored red grapes and O'Shea sensibly devoted it solely to Shiraz plantings and renamed the property the Rosehill Vineyard.

In 1965, a further 22 hectares were purchased beside the original vineyard and this also was planted to Shiraz. Unlike the original planting, which was planted with 15' row spacing, the rows were more closely spaced due to the improvement in trellis design and cultivating implements, resulting in greater bearing potential.

Lovedale

Maurice O'Shea planted the Lovedale Vineyard in the lower Hunter Valley in 1946 on sandy aggregate loam soil, which helps to capture the perfect tightness and acidity for making quality Semillon.

The site of the Lovedale Vineyard was selected in 1939 by legendary Mount Pleasant founder and winemaker, the late Maurice O'Shea. The vineyard was planted after World War II, in 1946, and the first Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon was made in 1950.

Certainly the Mount Pleasant Lovedale Vineyard stands as a paradox. It is only when you consider the simple aesthetics of the Lovedale Vineyard and the realities of the Hunter Valley climate, that you can truly appreciated what a visionary Maurice O'Shea was; to see beyond the adversity, plant a vineyard and create a wine some consider as Australia's greatest white wine.

The vineyard is named after the original landholders, the Love family.

Tasted the 2007 vintage, I can appreciate why it was one of the best Semillon in the world. The nose is intense with great complexity, showing citrus and apple, light floral notes supplemented by the rich pineapple aromas, with the signature honey, toast and wax varietal characters. The palate is equally concentrated, with an additional buttery note throughout. A bit light on the body with reasonable acidity, the length is very long too.