Well, this is why I moved to NZ, to make wine like this and actually this wine. I was fascinated with Martinborough Pinot Noir back in the early/mid 2000s and it’s what drew me to the North Island of NZ. I can’t get enough of those complex savoury notes paired with the dark fruits we get from the Martinborough fruit. And hey, what a price!

Martinborough sits in a perfect Pinot Noir pocket on the lower north island. To the west of Martinborough is the Rimutaka Mountain ranges, protecting the region from the westerly rains. To the southeast lies the Aorangi Range and due east are the foothills leading up the coast of the North Island. There is, however, some exposure to the cold southerlies coming up through Palliser Bay in the spring that limit flowering and result in low- yielding vines producing fruit of high intensity. This wine was produced from an organically run, dry-farmed block with a unique clay soil structure over top of free-draining former river bed. Slightly more elevated than the typical river terrace soils than most of Martinborough, this vineyard has heat exposure with a northeast aspect.

The vines are planted in mostly Dijon clones of 667, 777, 114, 115, as well as Clone 5 half of which are planted on their own rootstock. The vineyard has always been run organically but will achieve full certification in 2021. After a relatively warm and dry summer, there was a heat spike right towards vintage. This resulted in a race to handpick all the fruit across the vineyard in time before it became too ripe. We did achieve this and were able to capture a range of ripeness and flavours across the vineyard. While the vintage will go down in history as a hot one, with dark tannins and big, fleshy wines. We were pleased with the finesse and tension we were able to capture at harvest.