Wilco Lam is fresh back in Martinborough from hosting a tasting to unveil the much awaited name, wines and brand that he has been working on for the past two years.
“We wanted a name that we could own rather than the previous name (On Giant’s Shoulders) and one of the things that kept popping up was to focus on wines that were textural and related to Martinborough as a place rather than looking at its specific geographic features," says Lam, who brought a team of wine professionals with him when he took a new job with employers who had purchased On Giant's Shoulders.
The winery is backed by German investors who made it possible to purchase one of Martinborough's oldest vineyards. The vineyard site is situated in Princess Street, Martinborough, which was branded On Giant’s Shoulders, prior to which it was called Pahi, prior to which it was known as the McCreanor Vineyard. Lam is passionate about vineyard heritage and wants to retain the original vineyard name but, in searching for a new brand, he wanted something fresh that paid homage to the land.
The new name is Oraterra, which translates to golden earth. There are three wines in the first releases from Oraterra, all made from the interesting and challenging 2023 vintage. They are Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir. The Oraterra owners and team want to extend the range with other varietal wines over time as well as from other vineyard sites in and around Martinborough. The wish list includes Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner and Riesling, all of which will take time to decide on if, when, where and how these will join the Oraterra stable.
“We would ideally like to find some elevated sites and we will be looking at other varieties or make blends that are multi vintage or multi variety.”
The first release is a trio of wines, all made from the brand's home block, McCreanor Vineyard, on Princess Street, Martinborough, which is named after the original founder of the site.
Here are my tasting notes
17.520
2023 Oraterra Pinot Gris Martinborough RRP $45
Barrel fermentation and 12 months on lees are always going to elevate Pinot Gris from an interesting white wine to something with texture, weight and depth. This is a good example and it's dry with four grams RS, which adds decadence and balance to the bright fresh acidity; grapes were picked clean without botrytis and the result is a grippy, weighty expression of Pinot Gris, which gains depth from being aged in new Austrian fuder oak for 12 months.
17.5/20
2023 Oraterra Chardonnay Martinborough RRP $65-$70
The 2023 vintage was a tricky year to start out but there was little pressure on picking the Chardonnay grapes, which were whole bunch pressed slowly and fermented with wild yeasts in oak ranging from 300 to 500 litres with 15 to 16 months on lees prior to blending.
The result is a dry, silky textured Chardonnay with a smooth creamy texture balanced by freshness, aromas of oatmeal, toasted almonds and citrus. Complex and youthful, this is good drinking now with at least four to five years of ageing potential. Artwork by Leanne Williams from the Crystal Chain Gang.
17.520
2023 Oraterra Pinot Noir Martinborough RRP $80
An earthy, savoury expression of Pinot Noir in a medium bodied style with firm elevated acidity and dried fruit flavours of red cherries, black cherries and red plums. All of the grapes were destemmed with no whole bunch; a reflection of the vintage. The wine also had a shorter maceration time than in a longer ripening season, says winemaker Wilco Lam, who pressed the wine to 100% new oak in larger formats; hogsheads and puncheons. There was no fining or filtration. The result is a lighter style of Pinot but a wine with depth and savouriness leading the flavours.
The 2023 vintage
“We learnt a lot about the vineyard in 2023. The vintage took a big turn when Cyclone Gabrielle hit but up until that time, we were not that far off from ripening and the result is a trio of wines that we are happy with because we were able to pick the grapes clean and make decisions without the weather pressure dictating every decision."
