Blue Mountain vineyard block program expands with two Chardonnays

Photo: Winemaker Matt Mavety

As is generally known, Blue Mountain Vineyard & Cellars did not bottle its 2021 vintage after smoke from nearby forest fires saturated the vineyard. Fortunately for the many Blue Mountain fans, the winery is still releasing wines from earlier vintages; and will likely harvest a very solid vintage from 2022.

Current releases from Blue Mountain include a sparkling wine and three Chardonnays, including two exceptional wines from single blocks in the vineyard. Blue Mountain, despite having 30-year-old vines, began releasing single block wines only three years ago. The debut wines were three Pinot Noirs from the 2017 vintage.

“With the single vineyard bottlings, we are trying to put in bottle a wine that expresses the site itself, not the hand of the winemaking,” winemaker Matt Mavety told me in 2019. “We have been working over the last 10 vintages to remove some of our input or our stamp on the wines, to allow more of the site to show through. Not that at any time we were heavy handed but there was room for refinement.” “The refinements in winemaking have allowed the personalities of the vineyards to become very expressive,” Matt continued. “Before, when our extraction levels were a bit higher, they started to hide, or muddle, the nuances in the wine. That becomes a very significant evolution in what has happened. It is not one that happened all of a sudden. It is something we have been working on since, I would say, the 2010 vintage, to try to pull back our activity during the fermentation.” “As our understanding of the vineyards and the wines we are making from specific blocks emerged, we had three blocks [of Pinot Noir] we could isolate as three unique personalities,” Matt added. “We definitely have differences in the soils here. One of the blocks in particular is different, based on the soil. But quite often, we find the topography is what is giving us a significant difference in the sites.” Those comments apply equally to the two Chardonnays just released. The wines are seductive and charming, but quite different in flavour and personality. Hats off to Matt and his family for working so hard to identify the Grand Cru plots in their vineyard.

Here are notes on those two wines along with two other recent releases.

Blue Mountain Gold Label Brut 2018 ($28). The wine is 62% Pinot Noir and 38% Chardonnay, aged on the lees for 24 months before being disgorged. A hint of brioche mingles with the aromas and flavours of apple and citrus. The bubbles give the wine a creamy impact on the palate. The finish is long. This is a classic Champagne-style sparkling wine of remarkable elegance at an affordable price. 93.

Blue Mountain Estate Cuvée Chardonnay 2020 ($30). The grapes in this wine are vines 14 to 31 years old. The fruit is hand-harvested and fermented with native yeasts. The wines are fermented and aged 18 months in French oak, both new and up to three years old. The wine is also allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation. It is an elegant wine, beginning with aromas of apple and peach that carry through to the palate. There also are buttery and spicy notes on the long finish. 92.

Blue Mountain Blossom Slope Block 17 Chardonnay 2019 ($50). The fruit for this wine is from 29-year-old vines (clones 76, 95 and 96), hand-picked and fermented with native yeast. The wine was fermented and aged for 18 months in French oak (new to three years old) and allowed to go through malolactic fermentation. The wine begins with floral aromas mingled with citrus. On the palate, there are flavours of stone fruits and apples, with a delicate minerality threading through the wine. It is a polished and elegant Chardonnay. 95.

Blue Mountain Alluvium Reflection Block 32 Chardonnay 2019 ($50). The fruit is from 30-year-old vines (clones 76 and 96). The grapes were hand-picked and fermented with native yeast. The wine was fermented and aged for 18 months in French oak (new to three years old) and allowed to go through malolactic fermentation. The wine has an earthy intensity, with aromas of spice and oranges. The texture is full, with flavours slightly reminiscent of baked apples. 95.