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John Jens, Western Suburbs Weekly, 22 Jun 2010
"The key component of this wine is the great length of dense, full, delicious and placid fruit flavours. There are persistent fine drying tannins and the fruit levels are such that they carry this with ease. The best Australian Marchand & Burch pinot noir to date. The east’s wine columnists say that the west can’t produce pinot, so this would prove to be a fascinating component of any tasting of Australasia’s finest current releases."
18.5 Points
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James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2011
"Good hue, although lighter in depth than Gibraltar Rock; the aromatic red cherry bouquet sets the scene for a radically different wine, although no less varietal; red fruits and spices carry the long, fine palate, perfectly judged extract."
94 Points
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Jancis Robinson, '100 sure-fire reds', 4 Dec 2010
"Interesting joint venture between French Canadian Pascal Marchand (ex Comte Armand) and Jeff Burch on gravel in Western Australia. Round and even richer than the 2008 - pretty satisfying! Lots of interest here and a very well priced alternative to Marchand's top burgundies. Excellent vitality."
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Chris Shanahan, The Canberra Times
"...The equally exciting Mount Barrow Pinot Noir 2009 comes from a ridge-top site at Mount Barker. What makes the wine so good? Site selection and vineyard management seems to be a key, giving Burch very high quality grapes to work with. After that it's attention to detail: picking at the right moment, handling and transporting grapes protectively and hand sorting to remove damaged berries and leaves... To build a fine, silky tannin structure, without over extraction, the Pinot undergoes maceration on skins for five days before and for several weeks after fermentation in small open vats. The makers hand plunge and pump juice over the skins from two to four times daily. The wine matures in oak barrels for about seven months before blending...they're worthy of comparison with the best..."
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Jason Boudville, Michael Tamburri, Hans Lang & Anthea Mann, Spice Magazine, September 2010
"Marchand & Burch is a French-Australian wine duo made up of Pascal Marchand, Burgundian winemaker and Jeff Burch vigneron of Howard Park. They set out in a Euro-Australian exchange of winemaking ideals, of which this Pinot is the result. The Mount Barrow site has gravelly well-drained lateritic soils which helps keep vine vigour low and this is expressed constantly through the wine. MT scrawled "herbal, briary and vegetal". HL also concurred whereas AM saw past the vegetal; "smokey notes, with a soil like character." Though a big wine, the tongue was fulcrum of balance, it sat poised like a cat about to strike."
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Ray Jordan, West Weekend, The West Australian, October 2010
"Distinctly different from the Gibraltar Rock with its more obvious fleshy mouthfeel and lifted primary fruit characters. It is a more immediately drinkable wine with an approach-friendly palate, more in the red fruit spectrum. A wine of great delicacy and finesse, and is drinking sooner than the firmer Gibraltar Rock." 95 Points
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