• French oak
• Blue & red fruits
• Forest floor
• Structured

"A powerful and distinctive bouquet with a core complexity built around ripe red berry fruit, a natural savoury dried herb complexity, a gentle sweetness of oak and baking spices scents to match, there's density and richness alongside power and finesse. A powerful youthful energy as the wine touches the palate transitioning smoothly through berry flavours, the savoury seam and textures from tannins and acidity. Delicious, youthful and full of pinosity. A lovely expression, complex and lengthy. Best drinking from 2022 - 2030+" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Oct 2021

"Intense, powerful, firmly-structured pinot noir from the Omaka Valley in the Southern Valleys subregion. The 50% wholebunches in the ferment has contributed to the wine's tannic backbone, which is balanced by sweet fruit. Floral, dark cherry and dried herb flavours. A richly-textured wine with obvious cellaring potential" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Nov 2021

"Lovely pure dark plum and Staccato cherry aromas gives freshness - plus there's a hint of new leather, too. Strongly textural; fruit is ripe and full of flavour, a hint of savoury whole cluster then graphite tannins kick in" Jane Skilton, Master of Wine, Gourmet Traveller, Jan 2022

"A lovely and spicy nose of white pepper, paprika, baked strawberries and wild rosemary. Mediumbodied with silky, smooth tannins. Vibrant and succulent on the palate, with an earthy core of crushed red fruit and berries. Very clear and transparent. Sustainable. Drink or hold. Screw cap" James Suckling, Oct 2022

"Mid cherry red. A notably savoury aroma though no lack of dark and dark-red fruits lifted by a hint of perfumed sweetness, almost a floral note, highlighted by the whole-bunch component, which adds a herbal but not unripe quality which shows more on the day after opening. On the palate, this is a beauty, firmly structured but with extreme tannic finesse. That savoury character on the palate too, with just a hint of stems adding to the well-balanced freshness. Plenty of Southern Valleys character and power here, in an elegant style, very slightly chewy at this young stage but even so it’s hard to resist drinking it now even though it should age well. Just goes to show that Marlborough doesn’t have to make tutti-frutti Pinot" Julia Harding, Master of Wine, JanisRobinson.com, Jan 2022

This is their debut release of the Settlement Vineyard Pinot Noir. It is a classic representation of Pinot Noir from Omaka with incredible density and power. Ripe blue and red fruits transition seamlessly to an attractive savoury edge of forest floor and sappy aromatic spices. It is an incredibly structured and impressive wine and is built to age.

2019 on paper looked like an absolute dream vintage for Pinot Noir, but as many found out it was one where you could be very much caught off-guard. The very low-yeilding nature of the vintage for Pinot Noir was a result of the combination of one of the driest growing seasons on record in Marlborough but also inclement weather during flowering and sizing. This meant small bunches and small berries with thick skins at harvest time. It was the complete antithesis of the very light and delicate 2018 vintage. It was a year where use of whole-bunch was essential to ensure balance and pinosity remained.

The stunning Settlement Vineyard is in the Omaka Valley microregion of the Southern Valleys. They are lucky enough to be entrusted with a small one-hectare parcel of Clone 777 Pinot Noir. This hillside block, dubbed 'Back Block', is north facing and planted to a high density of 3788 plants/ha on wine-blown loess over clay loams. The vineyard was planted in 2009 and is now BioGro certified and farmed organically. It is cane pruned and VSP trained.

They hand-harvested the Settlement Vineyard Pinot Noir on the 20th March 2019. 50% of the handpicked fruit was tipped into the open-tank fermenter with the balance crushed over the top. The fruit was kept cool until natural fermentation commenced after five days. The tank was hand-plunged throughout its 15-day fermentation period after which they drained and pressed the wine to barrel where it completed natural malolactic fermentation. The oak regime was 100% French oak barriques, all of low-toast level (35% new) for 12 months, with a further 3 months in tank to gently and naturally settle. They bottled the wine without filtration on the 3rd Jun 2020 and it was released on the 1st November 2021.