Dog Point’s 15-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 slither at the top of the vineyard’s east slope, a clay-rich parcel planted to a density of 4,600 vines per hectare. Picked first, Settlement is typically the most red-fruited and youthfully radiant of the Corofin trio although this ’17 also has plenty of stuffing. Cropped at close to 1kg per vine, it’s already super impressive. Expect a fine yet firm, racy Pinot loaded with waves of Grenadine, bright plum and anise notes, as well as plenty of fine, powdery tannins on the brambly close. Great intensity, length and character for the money.
Mike’s winemaking notes: "Handpicked on March 19th. Five days in sealed tanks with 30% whole bunches, then foot trodden, natural ferment (eight days followed by eight days on skins), pressed to old barrel; spontaneous malolactic in the late spring/early summer with the wine remaining on original lees for 13 months; racked to tank for seven months, before being bottled without fining or filtration in mid-November 2018."