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Organic. The 18-year-old Settlement Vineyard is located in the Omaka Valley, to the south of Marlborough’s Wairau Plains. This organically certified site is managed by Dog Point’s gun viticulturist, Nigel Sowman. The fruit for this bottling hails from a 0.25-hectare sliver at the top of the vineyard’s east slope, a clay-rich parcel planted at a density of 4,600 vines per hectare (all 777 clone). Picked first, Settlement is typically the most red-fruited and youthfully radiant of the Corofin Pinot Noir single-vineyard bottlings, although Mike tells us he’s witnessed a significant evolution in the phenolic structure of the fruit in recent years.
This year the crop yield was less than one kilogram per vine, or 25 hl/ha. The grapes were hand-picked, manually sorted and then destemmed before a snappy ferment that lasted just seven days (with very gentle pump-overs once a day). It was then pressed into seasoned French oak (two and three-year-old) barrels for 13 months before resting in tank for seven months.
It’s a pure and pretty release that showcases this site’s bright and elegant personality with impressive clarity and charming appeal. Juicy and red-fruited, the palate is flecked with minerals, earth and savoury depths. It pops with all the poise and fine detail of this producer’s Pinot Noir and finishes with sustained length. It’s already raring to go, but if you choose to wait, there will be plenty more to follow.