2020 Testify by Daniel Brennen Pinot Noir Martinborough

Winemaker Notes:  Just four barrels make up this wine; a selection of the best clones and rows in the Martinborough vineyard Daniel’s been working with for 10 years. The intimate knowledge of the site and the magic of a brilliant season provided the fruit for what Daniel thinks might just be the best wine of his career to date. On the nose there’s an overt smokiness that rewards decanting in the first few years after release. This opens to a concerto of florals backed by wet earth, forest floor, mushroom, and a delightful marshmallow note. The palate flows seamlessly with long silken tannins and intense plum and red berry flavours. A delicate beauty of our best efforts from a graceful vintage in Martinborough.  This is that special occasion wine; pair it with a confit duck or tuck away for the next 7 years, your patience will be rewarded.

In most ‘reserve’ wines, producers tend to make more extracted, riper or more oaked wines with the idea it delivers more for the price. That’s not my thoughts at all (particularly for Pinot Noir) and why I decided to call this range ‘Testify’. It’s my hand on heart best effort from each vintage. And for Pinot Noir I wanted to create a more elegant and pure wine, which not necessarily a ‘bigger’ wine. This is more precise, selective and really the best Pinot Noir I can produce at the time I made it.