Decibel Martinborough Pinot Noir,2020

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. Mix in the fact that this is dry farmed, on clay soils paired with the perky Dijon clones and it’s wine with great tension and complexity. It’s really a dream come true to make this wine. 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 single-vineyard 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.

After a warm and dry summer, there was a heat spike right towards vintage, but the cooler nights meant the fruit condition was retained and we could pick slowly clone by clone. As a result, the fruit was picked over a 2 week period to optimise ripeness and freshness.

After hand harvesting by clone across the vineyard into small crates the grapes were destemmed and crushed however leaving some whole bunch (5-50%) and stems in the ferments ranging from 1 tonne to 3-tonne ferments. Some ferments were inoculated and some were fermented wild. The wine was then pressed into the tank and settle for one or two days before putting into French oak barriques (15% new), unsulphured but kept cold over winter. In the spring the barrels were allowed to warm up naturally and finish malolactic fermentation. A small amount of sulphur was added post-MLF and kept cold over summer before being blended and went to bottle with no fining in February 2021. The wine was then aged in bottle for 18 months before its release in August 2022.

Bob Campbell MW: 92 Points.
Medium-bodied wine with plum, dark cherry, violet, cassis, blackberry and spice/anise flavours with a backbone of fine, ripe tannins. Supple, elegant wine with a lingering finish and an appealing core of fruit sweetness.

New Zealand International Wine Show
Silver Medal