Mount Mary’s Pinot Noir vines were sourced from Western Victoria in 1971. This material was acquired before individual clonal selections were considered, and as such, the older Pinot blocks are a mix of many clones. A visiting French vine expert once told founder John Middleton that there were in the order of 30+ clones in the original Pinot block. Subsequent plantings of Pinot on this site have been selections from the original block, and the clonal selection has been somewhat refined. There are also some newer blocks of Pinot Noir planted (as of 2008) to American rootstocks and are of specific clonal material, namely MV6, 777, 667, 115 and Pommard. In the winery the emphasis is on simplicity. The Pinot Noir ferments are conducted using 100% whole berries and are left on skins for around 10-14 days. This is followed by 16 months of barrel maturation consisting of 25% new oak barriques. Minimal (if any) fining and filtration is carried out prior to bottling.