Dry River Pinot Noir

This was one of the first wineries in New Zealand. In 1979, doctors Derek Milne and Dawn McCallum decided to settle in Martinborough, North Island, in the Wairarapa region. Right there, in the southern part, their Dry River winery was born.

The history of Dry River wines begins in three distinct plots, with vines over 20 years old: Dry River Estate (planted in 1979), Craighall (planted in 1983) and Lovat (planted in 1992). These three vineyards, with their limited production, grow on arid, gravelly and well-drained soils. In terms of climate, this area is known for dry autumns and low temperatures (“we have about the same heat summation as Edinburgh,” McCallum said). This results in grapes with strong flavour, character and intensity.

We also have to talk about the work of the winery’s winemaking team, whose ultimate goal is to maintain these unique features and capture the characteristics of the terroir in each wine. To do this, they take great care over every detail, from the vineyard to the winery, where native yeasts will mark the special character of their wines, like Dry River Pinot Noir, a red wine made from old vines cultivated according to biodynamic principles. The Dry River Pinot Noir winemaking process involves low intervention and the winemaking guidelines are set by Wilco Lam (head winemaker), Sam Rouse (his assistant), Jamen Pittard (vineyard manager), Sarah Bartlett (commercial director) and Michelle Mills and Alex Muir (vineyard assistants). The team’s guiding principles are based on spontaneous cold fermentations, with native yeasts, where the clusters are left whole. This will be followed by a two-week maceration, to finally finish with a 12-month aging in 300 and 500-litre French oak barrels.

“It’s our aim that when you drink Dry River wines, you have a connection with us. Each vintage is a source of surprise and wonder for us, and we want you to experience that, too.”, they say on their website. So we should take their advice and open a bottle of Dry River Pinot Noir to discover all that this area has to offer.