Oraterra Pinot Noir 2024

Oraterra represents the new chapter for one of New Zealand's most revered wine production teams. The group of six behind Oraterra began their journey together at Martinborough's iconic Dry River. In 2022, following a decade of working together, winemaker Wilco Lam, along with general manager Sarah Bartlett, assistant winemaker Tom de Hamel, and viticulturists James Pittard, Michelle Mills and McKenzie Smith, left their posts at Dry River following a change of ownership. With the purchase of the forty-year-old, four-hectare McCreanor vineyard, a new project was born: Oraterra, or golden earth. Organic, biodynamic and regenerative farming. All wines are wild yeast fermented and made with minimal intervention.

We are delighted to offer the latest release - Oraterra's 2024 vintage - a year Wilco Lam and the team believe will be remembered alongside 2013, 2001 and 1998 as one of Martinborough's greatest. Where 2023, in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, was fraught and demanding, 2024 was, in Lam's words, splendid. A cool, turbulent spring reduced fruit set and kept yields down - a natural gift of concentration - before summer conditions arrived and stayed close to perfect. Between December and March, the sun shone without excess heat, and rainfall was virtually absent, producing one of the driest and most benign ripening seasons in recent memory.

"Beautiful vintages like 2024 risk losing a certain hook, or friction, in the wine. It can make it too easy and welcoming: seeing the forest but no longer the trees."

"By picking early, we avoided this risk and were able to retain good acidity and a degree of disposition to provide interest in the wine."

"Dark and bright fruit are the antagonists, with Morello cherry cutting through the riper characters. This pinot noir goes beyond typical varietal qualities to offer an array of complex and inviting aromatics."

"The wine is comfortable, rounded and softly cushioned, moving effortlessly over the palate. Once it is in the back, the wine returns and resurfaces towards the front of the mouth with fine powdery tannins, like the white wash in “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Japanese artist Hokusai."

"The hook is a little like the area between the fruit and the skin of a watermelon, with the tannins acting as chaperones and guiding the fruit toward each corner of the mouth."