Dry River Martinborough Pinot Noir 2020

Dry River was established in 1979 by Dr Neil and Dawn McCallum and was one of Martinborough’s first wineries. Named for one of South Wairarapa’s earliest sheep stations, Dry River rests on the very arid, gravelly, free-draining soils near the Ruamahunga River, an area known as the Martinborough Terrace.

The vineyard became one of first committed winegrowers in Martinborough, and one of first Pinot Noir producers in New Zealand’s modern era. Alongside with neighbours like Martinborough Vineyard, Ata Rangi, Chifney and Te Kairanga. These five created the Martinborough Terrace appellation, a crescent-shaped area formed by the Ruamahunga and Huangarua rivers aeons ago. The area is known to have relatively low precipitation, free draining soil and good sunlight exposure.

Dry River wines are yielded from three vineyards. Apart from its original site of 1979, there was Craighall, first planted in 1983, and provides linear structure and acidity to the wines. Finally, Lovat vineyard, planted in 1992, is responsible for the accentuated fruit characters in our wines.

2020 vintage was relatively warm, which helps Martinborough wine growing areas particularly through fully ripening the tannin. And that in turn allows fuller extraction through maceration. Through ageing, the wine radiats with darker notes of oak, oak bark and toasted cumin and coriander spices contrast with lifted fruits of cassis, blood orange, raspberry, and cherries. Then there are the grounding aromatics by way of freshly cut barley straw, nutmeg, and fresh thyme.