Dry River Gewürztraminer, Martinborough

Product Description

The name Dry River carries an historical significance as the name of one of the earliest Wairarapa sheep stations (ca. 1877). This was later sold off by the Seddon government and renamed Dyerville, leaving the renamed Waihora River (circa 1900) and the renamed Dyerville Rd (1994) – both after Dry River – as the only reminders of this part of our pastoral farming history. In 1979 Neil and Dawn McCallum planted a vineyard a few kilometres from Dyerville in a very dry, gravely and free-draining area now called the ‘Martinborough Terrace’ and they took the name Dry River for the vineyard and wines in what was to become another chapter of Martinborough’s farming history. Their dream was to produce individual, high quality regional wines which faithfully reflect the ‘terroir’, vintage and are suitable for cellaring. In subsequent year’s plantings on the Martinborough Terrace increased and fruit from the more recent plantings at nearby Craighall and Arapoff vineyards was also used. Part of Craighall was ultimately purchased by the winery in 1997/8 and all of the Arapoff vineyard in 2002 – the latter being renamed ‘Lovat Vineyard’. In 2002 the winery and vineyards were sold to New York businessman Julian Robertson and Californian viticulturalist Reg Oliver, who owned the El Molino winery in St Helena. The cool climate and poor soil of the Dry River bed, married with Dr Neil McCallum’s insistence on tiny yields and his utmost dedication to quality, has resulted in Dry River’s wines being recognised as New Zealand’s finest. These are handcrafted wines made in boutique quantities…

Bright, light golden-hued straw-yellow colour with some depth, paler on rim. This has a soft, full and ethereal nose of exotic rose-petal florals, tropical fruits honey, ginger and spices, the fruit building in piquancy and expressed with freshness and aromatic precision with time in the glass. Medium to taste and medium-bodied, rich and luscious fruit flavours of exotic tropical fruits, rose-petal florals, ginger, honey and musk form a refined core with unctuous textures and growing presence. The fruit is vibrant and the mouthfeel poised with fresh, edgy acidity balancing the sweetness, the wine flowing with good energy. The palate carries to a long, lush and aromatically blossoming finish.