Our Story | Certified Organic Winery and Cidery
Carbon-positive, sustainable wine lovingly made by hand from the Mountford family to you. Kind to the environment, backed by organic growing skills and infused with all the right flavours of Pemberton for an intangible quality.
When trained horticulturist Andrew Mountford was searching for an undiscovered region in WA’s South-West, he chose the Mountford property for its soil, cool climate, topography and most importantly, the right feel. Nearly 40 years later Mountford Wines has evolved into an iconic winery and cidery that embodies the hard work and renewable philosophies of this family-owned vineyard.
Mountford Winery is a hidden gem of the southern forests. We produce certified organic wine with minimal intervention and maximum impact on your palate.
Why Pemberton?
The Mountford family handpicked Pemberton for its high winter rainfall and forested region. After some serious research into the area, a fifteen-acre vineyard was planted and we started preserving the unique taste and character of Pemberton.
The undulating country gave all the variables needed to ignite the dream. Optimal soil and weather conditions, amongst the coolest in Western Australia, are ideal for cool-climate wines and classic early ripening varieties; fine flavours Mountford Wines is very passionate about.
Established in 1987 and now one of the region’s oldest vineyards, our vines produce fruit with true intensity and complexity. This is due to careful organic vineyard practices from inception, along with continual environmental care. These practices have enabled expression from vineyard to bottle, ensuring all our products keep the taste and essence of place. Our organic winery is also home to WA’s first cidery (Tangletoe) which features organic handcrafted ciders and vinegar.
Come for the wine, stay for the full experience.
Visit our award-winning cellar door and enjoy the charming scenery, relaxing atmosphere and warm, knowledgeable service.
Second Generation Family-Owned Business
Meet Andrew and Sue Mountford, the husband and wife duo and Pemberton pioneers behind Mountford Wines and Tangletoe Cidery.
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In 2001 the family business expanded when our son joined Mountford Wines. Saxon, a qualified wine scientist, supports Andrew in the growing and winemaking duties, while Sue handles the cellar door and art gallery with her expertise in organic wine and the creative arts.
Mountford Wines go Beyond Carbon-Neutral
When you taste and buy Mountford Wine products, you become part of a system that supports the environment.
It is our aim to tread lightly on this earth. The footprint of our winery and cidery is not just carbon-neutral but carbon-positive, meaning the property sequesters more carbon than we produce. Through sustainable growing practices, we ensure the viability and deliciousness of our wines and cider.
In fact, our organic winery adds to an estimated 8.4 tonnes of carbon sequestration.
When we purchased the property we inherited the bedraggled remains of Karri woodland after harvesting, it was a sad sight. The stumps of the original forest are evident to this day. Instead of clearing the remnants, we chose to keep them and left them to regenerate for the native flora and fauna. Eventually this contributed to the amount of carbon we are able to store and use.
The perennials, grapevine apples and avocados give Mountford Wines an additional 8.1 tonnes of carbon. Today, our estimated total emissions are 3.4 tonnes ensuring the contribution to a wholeheartedly carbon-positive vineyard.
Try our exceptional certified organic wines and cider, delivered to your front door.
The Mountford Family’s Sustainable Journey
Born in the era of ‘make do’, sustainability was a way of life for the Mountford family. A generation of knowledge. Everyone in the village back in the UK grew and made fruit wine and ciders. That was, until the bright blue lights of television arrived. People stopped tending to their gardens and talking over the hedge, and so much knowledge was lost.
We bought the property in Pemberton to combine our mastery and passion for fine wine with a slow-living, sustainable lifestyle.
It was important to us to carry on with the recycling ways that have been ingrained since we were children and create a new generation of knowledge. With the organic growing skills we learned more than 35 years ago and wine science expertise, our products are deliberately crafted for the planet and its people.
Increasing this renewable model, we continued our sustainable journey at the cellar door and winery. The space was built by hand milling our own timber, making our own bricks and fossicking for recycled and reject materials.
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While we may be small players in the scheme of things and there is always more we can do, it's these practices that keep us on track to produce honest wines using traditional methods centuries old that need a little more thought, care and attention to detail.
One of the biggest impacts of a business is its greenhouse gas, and the influence on climate change is a top disaster of this generation. To reduce our emissions, Mountford Wines work with the environment to nourish the vines and maximise fruit quality. This fulfils our values of sustainability, quality and integrity, and gives our customers an experience that reduces the footprint left behind.
Our Organic Wine Philosophy
In 2003, Mountford Wines became the first NASSA Certified Organic Winery in Pemberton and in 2006, a Certified Organic Producer. We continue to inject our sustainability soul and innovative growing skills into the vines.
The end result is wine and cider that is produced under a strict and sustainable regime with low inputs and no chemicals often found in conventional wines. By removing chemicals, we encourage wild yeast (natural ferment) that captures the true essence of the fruit grown at Mountford Wines, without any intervention.
This means:
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No DAP (diammonium phosphate), the chemical for yeast used to aid fermentation known as junk food for wine
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Minimal use of sulphur in wines
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Where possible sulphur is completely avoided. Try our Method Ancestral wine and our cider range for preservative-free options
The Future of Sustainable and Organic Wine Growing
At Mountford, we believe in looking after the environment and having an inexhaustible system.
Although we still use classic methods, we use the most up-to-date equipment where applicable to aid our process. We are continually searching for and considering better ways to make wines and ciders.
For example, the Smart Analysis kit - an innovative, portable lab. This system uses the latest digital technology to track the wine’s progress and analyse deviations.
Our Label Design
As a truly-run family business, our wine label is a family heirloom that dates back to 1850. The stoneware ewer is made from a variety of clay-based pottery fired to a temperature of 1200 degrees Celsius. The ewer is traced back to prominent factories in Staffordshire in England, Ridgway and Samual Alcoch.
The ewer has two images, the front depicts a boy reading to a girl, presumably love sonnets. The back design is an older couple with the male helping the lady spin wool. Encircling this is a filigree of Tudor roses we use across all our label designs. We have won gold and silver in the Printing Industries Craftsmanship Awards (PICA) in 1995 and 2000 for these labels.
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Be part of the Mountford Family.