Doctor John Middleton, the founder of the famous Yarra Valley vineyard, Mount Mary, passed away on June 27, 2006, after a long illness.
John established the Mount Mary winery in 1971 concentrating on producing elegant, refined wines, very much modelled on the red and white wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Always outspoken, John, most of all, was brutally honest and gained renown for his hard hitting annual newsletter/mailing list sent to his loyal band of customers eagerly awaiting its arrival to order their allocation of wine and read the guru's slant on many an issue.
I never met the man, but spoke to him on many occasions dating back to the eighties. He usually answered the winery phone and would gladly and voraciously express his views on most issues from what he thought about the show system to what Bailey Carrodus was putting into his Pinot Noir to the "weed" some people called "Shiraz"!
Most of all, John will be remembered as one of the great pioneers who extablished the Yarra Valley as a world class cool-climate viticultural area. Like the man, his wines were always intellectual and full of interest. He will be sorely missed.