Testify Pinot Noir 2019

In most ‘reserve’ wines, producers tend to make more extracted, riper or more oaked wines with the idea it delivers more for the price. That’s not my thoughts at all (particularly for Pinot Noir) and why I decided to call this range ‘Testify’. It’s my hand on heart best effort from each vintage. And for Pinot Noir I wanted to create a more elegant and pure wine, which not necessarily a ‘bigger’ wine. This is more precise, selective and really the best Pinot Noir I can produce at the time I made it.

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 a dry-farmed, organically farmed block with a unique soil structure for Martinborough with clay over top of free draining old riverbeds. Slightly more elevated than the typical river terrace soils than most of Martinborough, this vineyard has great exposure with a northeast aspect. The vines are planted in mostly Dijon clones of 667, 777, 114 and 115, with a few rows of UCD Clone 5, half of which are planted on their own rootstock.

After a relatively good summer, we saw increased heat in late summer, crescendoing at harvest time. This meant as we took in the initial fruit, when we first thought we’d be picking over a matter of weeks, we had to pick in a matter of days. This was because of the intense heat would cause raisoning and overripe fruit. Despite the lack of labour to help hand pick this vineyard, we managed to harvest each clone over the weekend, in 3 days time. This ensured we harvested some fruit with more bright, juicy tannins to blend with some of the first bit of early ripening clones, resulting in a a great range of ferments.

All the fruit was hand sorted and a variety of vinification vats were filled, ranging from 5 to 40% whole bunch ferments where they cold soaked for a few days before naturally warming. Most ferments went ‘wild’ with indigenous yeasts and some were inoculated with some organic yeast strains. After fermentation the wine was macerated on skins for an additional 10 to 21 days. They were then pressed in a small basket press, settled in tank and then put to French barriques, again separated by clone. The barrels were kept cold and topped over winter. In the spring, the barrels were allowed to warm up and go through secondary (malolactic) fermentation, afterwhich a very reasonable amount of sulphur was added to the barrels and once again they were kept cold in the cellar through summer.

This 2019 vintage I was particularly impressed with the Clone 115 and have been since, during the warmer seasons. So this is 50% clone 115 with the balance a blend of 667 and 777 clones. So while I had my eye on certain clones and their ferments, I still only chose 4 barrels to make the final blend of this Testify wine. In the end it was only 1161 bottles were produced of this special wine.

Bob Campbell, The Real Review
94 points
“Dense, dark, funky and earthy with a sweet, silky palate and supple tannins,” said Ant, and Mike agreed, adding that its smoky masculinity and power really packs a punch and makes it instantly impressive, while its “lovely dark plum, cherry and cassis intensity and velvety textures” had John at the first sip. An excellent example.