Bottle Juice

Quietly spoken 40-year-old Jim Chatto is one of the most talented winemakers in Australia. Whether he is the best of all will come into focus over the next few years following his move to the McWilliam's group, announced this month. His job there will be multi-layered; he will assume direct responsibility for Mount Pleasant, replacing long-serving winemaker Phil Ryan who is retiring, but he will also cover the group's winemaking operations elsewhere.

• Topics: Australia, Phil Ryan, · McWilliam
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1996 McWilliam's Mount Pleasant Wines Sémillon Lovedale - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

Served blind. Lanolin and lime with honey and a touch of smoke. Palate has weighty honeyed fruit but also has the acidity to finish cleanly. Drinking at its peak. This is the second great bottle I've had in the past couple of years, with a less impressive bottle in between. 92/100

2000 Tyrrell's Chardonnay Vat 47 - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley…

• Topics: Australia, New South Wales wine, Italy, France, Lanson
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1986 McWilliam's Mount Pleasant Wines Sémillon Elizabeth - Australia, New South Wales, Hunter Valley

Took a little bit of time to open up after pouring, but was quite classic in its composition - lemon, toast and lanolin along with some background grapefruit. There is well balanced fruit richness still evident on the palate and it finishes with medium length. Holding up well, as it was not dissimilar from a bottle 4-5 years ago, but I would drink in the not too distant future. …

• Topics: France, Burgundy wine, Côte de Nuits, New South Wales wine, Australia
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…Darling to continue the quest to map terroir. Below is Shaun McLaughlan pouring at Mount Pleasant yesterday morning. The 32Km from Malmesbury to Darling took us well over an hour [. ..]

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The Hunter Valley Wine Industry celebrated more of its history recently with the unveiling of a Heritage Cairn acknowledging the " Maurice O'Shea Mount Pleasant Label" at McWilliam's Mount Pleasant Winery in Pokolbin as a landmark of historical importance. The Hunter Valley Heritage Award was introduced in 2009 to acknowledge landmarks or items of historical importance, which have influenced the course of, or made a significant contribution to, the Hunter Valley…

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Rosehill shiraz is going in the right direction. As indeed are most of the Mount Pleasant wines. Not sure when this is released but I saw it at a preview tasting; it could be a few months away.

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McWilliams Mount Pleasant Isabelle Chardonnay 2010 Tumbarumba, New South Wales ( £9.99 Waitrose) Refreshing, fruity style, a mix of citrus (tangerine/clementine) with stone fruit (apricot/nectarine/plum) with a light veneer of smoky toasty oak, ripe but sleek, with a slightly briny tang on the finish. B+ Thorn Clarke Mount Crawford Chardonnay 2010, Eden Valley (~ £11 Alliance Wine) [...]

• Topics: Eden Valley, Chardonnay, New South Wales wine, 2010, McWilliams

Westbrook Brewing is a relatively new craft brewery in Mount Pleasant, SC., just across the bridge from the historic city of Charleston. The brewery has quickly gained the attention of craft beer drinkers in the southeast.

Westbrook Vanilla Tree Dubbel is a Belgian-style dark ale brewed with a crystal malts and dark Belgian candi syrup. Whole vanilla beans and toasted oak chips are added to the beer during aging.

The beer pours a reddish brown with a firm tan head. The beer has …

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Mothervine and hence the old vines that launched a thousand MV6 clones from the original plantings at Mount Pleasant. Says on the back that a third of the grapes were fermented in 4 half tonne fermenters, so I'm guessing it's a production of 6 tonne, so around 450 dozen. Exclusive to cellar door and on-premise.

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• Topics: Wine Front

…meatloaf, actually several trays of individual meatloaves, each wrapped in bacon, would work well with the Mount Pleasant sparkling wine and beer that was dressing everyone and everything in the area. But Major League Baseball, in common with all professional sports leagues, has no sense of humor and looked upon the visit as an affront to its wine-soaked dignity.

We, fully by accident, enjoyed some of it not long afterward. The meatloaf, succulent, deeply meaty and slightly spicy, is cooked …

• Topics: Cardinals, Wine, Major League, Joe, Cards