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Friday, August 9, 2019

Seeing the Potential of North Canterbury, NZ with Mt. Beautiful Winery

I’ve always enjoyed the wines of New Zealand and their sauvignon blanc has always been some of my favorites including some of their pinot noir as well.  Our Wine Pairing Weekend group is exploring the wines of New Zealand.  My feature is with the Mt. Beautiful winery.  The name alone was enough to peak my interest.....get it! 

The Winery 
Mt. Beautiful is a winery located in the southern island of New Zealand.  It is located right along the coast and at the foothills of Mt. Beautiful to the east.  Owned by David Teece, his family’s roots are engrained in the farming business with an entrepreneurial spirit.  David’s knowledge expands far beyond the wine industry as he is also a professor and author of over 30 books.  He is also rated by Accenture as one of the worlds “Top 50 Business Intellectuals”.  An intriguing man that let his passion for growing great products in New Zealand lead the way to take the risk of starting Mt. Beautiful, also certified sustainable. 
Mt. Beautiful winery New Zealand
Mt. Beautiful winery ~ Copyright of Mt. Beautiful
The winery is located in the North Canterbury appellation amongst a myriad of soils and microclimates.  Wine Spectator named this appellation as “one of the fastest growing wine areas”.  I think this was the first experience I’ve had with this appellation as the Marlborough wine region is probably the one most seen on the market.  If you know me by now you know I love the opportunity to try something different.   

The Wine 
2017 Mt. Beautiful Pinot Noir2017 Mt. Beautiful Pinot Noir Mt. Beautiful’s pinot noir is located in their southern vineyards at the highest elevations.  There it is the warmest location with a lesser chance of frost.  Mt. Beautiful seems to give great care during harvest hand selecting, destemming and sorting their own grapes.  This wine spends 10 months aging in 20% new and used French oak.  It’s ruby colored with purplish highlights.  Ripe blackberries and blueberries were very apparent on the nose.  Rather lighter in body its black fruits are very expressive in the glass showing elegance with subtle tannins on the finish.  ABV 13% SRP $28 

The Pairing 
I had a few directions I was going to go with pairing this wine, but have been having a recent craving for salmon, which to me is always a classic pairing with pinot noir.  I wanted to grill it, but with the kids it’s not the easiest feat.  I chose to do a simple baked salmon paired with some of our fresh vegetables we pick up weekly from our local farm.  Simple, but delicious!  
Mt. Beautiful salmon and pinot noir pairing
Join the rest of wine and food pairing bloggers as they share their personal dishes with New Zealand wines.  If you catch us in time this Saturday August 10th at 11am EST on Twitter we will be chatting live about our pairings and wines. Check it out at #ItalianFWT.  



*These wines were provided as samples, but as always opinions are my own.

6 comments:

  1. Simple, but delicious is always the best! I don't usually think of salmon with Pinot Noir, but I will now. Thanks for sharing, Jen.

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  2. Mt. Beautiful Pinot Noir sounds very interesting. I have been wanting to explore New Zealand Pinot Noirs and now I know one to look for. Your pairing of salmon is right up my alley. I also get cravings on a regular basis for salmon, a future dinner is scheduled!

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  3. Love the simplicity of the meal relying on the freshness of the ingredients!

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  4. when you can make simple and it comes out delicious... that's a win!

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  5. Mt. Beautiful's wines are beautiful indeed. I knew that the owner was a professor but did not know he'd written so many books and was named one of the Top 50 Business Intellectuals. Impressive!

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  6. I can see why it is called Mount Beautiful!!! Beautiful pairing as well.

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