Oraterra Pinot Noir Martinborough New Zealand 2023
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2023
Farming: Organic, Biodynamic, Regenerative
Winemaking: Hand-harvested, destemmed, wild fermentation in 900kg fermenters, 14–20 days maceration, aged 12 months in 300–500L barrels, bottled unfined and unfiltered
Alcohol: 13%
pH: 3.7
TA: 5.7 g/L
The Wine
Hand harvested fruit from the McCreanor vineyard was destemmed into 900kg fermentation vessels. Wild yeast fermented with occasional hand plunging.
After between 14 and 20 days in the fermenting vessel, wines were pressed and transferred to large format barrels for 12 months. After racking, settling and blending it was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Cellared Says
An elegant and contemplative Pinot Noir, showcasing the nuanced complexity and textural finesse that Martinborough is renowned for. Chatting to Wilco you can see this is all about texture, extended times on gross lees in Stockinger Barrels build the natural texture from the vineyard. Lovely wine, will plump out with a little time. These wines will only get better, 2023 was a tricky vintage, the barrels were new, although large format and virtually untoasted still have a little extra oaky impact, all be it in balance with the fruit. Wonderful wine. A curio now, cult in the future. Excellent.
Reviews
“Deceptively pretty and bright at first: a little pale in the glass, with crunchy red fruit, some herbal perfume. Then serious and complex and structured in the mouth: hedgerow berries, sticky tannin, sinewy, age worthy.” – Max Allen AFR
“A fresh and inviting perfume, filled with cherry, redcurrant, damson, raspberry and rhubarb, with lovely floral highlights on the nose. Medium bodied at most, this has a youthful, vibrant entry to the palate, with a bright acidity to the fore. The pose then leans to one of savoury, earthy elements, with a toastiness from the oak and a prickle of tannin adding depth. Will benefit from cellaring, but is by no means closed, even at this stage. A fine arrival.”
94 points — David Walker Bell, WineFolio
“Wilco Lam’s first Pinot Noir for Martinborough’s new Oraterra brand is a lightly, yet elegantly structured example that’s had 18–24 days on skins inside large, 100% new, predominantly Austrian 500L oak puncheons. Sourced from clones 5, 10/5 and Abel from the McCreanor vineyard in central Martinborough, the result is a wine scented with dark rhubarb, baking spices, fresh cherry flavours and earthy, softly-prickly textures. It has its own voice and is quite unique amongst more commercial Martinborough pinot noir.”
— Yvonne Lorkin
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2023
Farming: Organic, Biodynamic, Regenerative
Winemaking: Hand-harvested, destemmed, wild fermentation in 900kg fermenters, 14–20 days maceration, aged 12 months in 300–500L barrels, bottled unfined and unfiltered
Alcohol: 13%
pH: 3.7
TA: 5.7 g/L
The Wine
Hand harvested fruit from the McCreanor vineyard was destemmed into 900kg fermentation vessels. Wild yeast fermented with occasional hand plunging.
After between 14 and 20 days in the fermenting vessel, wines were pressed and transferred to large format barrels for 12 months. After racking, settling and blending it was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Cellared Says
An elegant and contemplative Pinot Noir, showcasing the nuanced complexity and textural finesse that Martinborough is renowned for. Chatting to Wilco you can see this is all about texture, extended times on gross lees in Stockinger Barrels build the natural texture from the vineyard. Lovely wine, will plump out with a little time. These wines will only get better, 2023 was a tricky vintage, the barrels were new, although large format and virtually untoasted still have a little extra oaky impact, all be it in balance with the fruit. Wonderful wine. A curio now, cult in the future. Excellent.
Reviews
“Deceptively pretty and bright at first: a little pale in the glass, with crunchy red fruit, some herbal perfume. Then serious and complex and structured in the mouth: hedgerow berries, sticky tannin, sinewy, age worthy.” – Max Allen AFR
“A fresh and inviting perfume, filled with cherry, redcurrant, damson, raspberry and rhubarb, with lovely floral highlights on the nose. Medium bodied at most, this has a youthful, vibrant entry to the palate, with a bright acidity to the fore. The pose then leans to one of savoury, earthy elements, with a toastiness from the oak and a prickle of tannin adding depth. Will benefit from cellaring, but is by no means closed, even at this stage. A fine arrival.”
94 points — David Walker Bell, WineFolio
“Wilco Lam’s first Pinot Noir for Martinborough’s new Oraterra brand is a lightly, yet elegantly structured example that’s had 18–24 days on skins inside large, 100% new, predominantly Austrian 500L oak puncheons. Sourced from clones 5, 10/5 and Abel from the McCreanor vineyard in central Martinborough, the result is a wine scented with dark rhubarb, baking spices, fresh cherry flavours and earthy, softly-prickly textures. It has its own voice and is quite unique amongst more commercial Martinborough pinot noir.”
— Yvonne Lorkin
Variety: Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2023
Farming: Organic, Biodynamic, Regenerative
Winemaking: Hand-harvested, destemmed, wild fermentation in 900kg fermenters, 14–20 days maceration, aged 12 months in 300–500L barrels, bottled unfined and unfiltered
Alcohol: 13%
pH: 3.7
TA: 5.7 g/L
The Wine
Hand harvested fruit from the McCreanor vineyard was destemmed into 900kg fermentation vessels. Wild yeast fermented with occasional hand plunging.
After between 14 and 20 days in the fermenting vessel, wines were pressed and transferred to large format barrels for 12 months. After racking, settling and blending it was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Cellared Says
An elegant and contemplative Pinot Noir, showcasing the nuanced complexity and textural finesse that Martinborough is renowned for. Chatting to Wilco you can see this is all about texture, extended times on gross lees in Stockinger Barrels build the natural texture from the vineyard. Lovely wine, will plump out with a little time. These wines will only get better, 2023 was a tricky vintage, the barrels were new, although large format and virtually untoasted still have a little extra oaky impact, all be it in balance with the fruit. Wonderful wine. A curio now, cult in the future. Excellent.
Reviews
“Deceptively pretty and bright at first: a little pale in the glass, with crunchy red fruit, some herbal perfume. Then serious and complex and structured in the mouth: hedgerow berries, sticky tannin, sinewy, age worthy.” – Max Allen AFR
“A fresh and inviting perfume, filled with cherry, redcurrant, damson, raspberry and rhubarb, with lovely floral highlights on the nose. Medium bodied at most, this has a youthful, vibrant entry to the palate, with a bright acidity to the fore. The pose then leans to one of savoury, earthy elements, with a toastiness from the oak and a prickle of tannin adding depth. Will benefit from cellaring, but is by no means closed, even at this stage. A fine arrival.”
94 points — David Walker Bell, WineFolio
“Wilco Lam’s first Pinot Noir for Martinborough’s new Oraterra brand is a lightly, yet elegantly structured example that’s had 18–24 days on skins inside large, 100% new, predominantly Austrian 500L oak puncheons. Sourced from clones 5, 10/5 and Abel from the McCreanor vineyard in central Martinborough, the result is a wine scented with dark rhubarb, baking spices, fresh cherry flavours and earthy, softly-prickly textures. It has its own voice and is quite unique amongst more commercial Martinborough pinot noir.”
— Yvonne Lorkin
