Our Vineyards

 

The Escarpment Te Muna Road Vineyard

sorting grapes on sorting table, Martinborough

The soils of our vineyards are alluvial loams that form the Martinborough Terrace. They were created by the Huangarua River over 20,000 years ago.

With alluvial loams now layered over very deep gravels this composition ensures exceptional drainage and warmer profiles, key prerequisites for nurturing and producing premium quality, healthy grape vines.

The climate is cool with summer days rarely exceeding 30º centigrade. This allows the grapes to ripen very slowly and to develop pure, powerful fruit characters with finely textured tannins. The rainfall is the lowest in the North Island averaging about 700mm per annum with very stable weather patterns particularly during autumn, the all-important harvest period. 

 

 

Escarpment's Single Vineyard Pinot Noir Blocks

Kupe Vineyard 

Kupe Pinot Noir is made entirely from the home block first planted in 1999 and situated on Te Muna Road. The alluvial gravels on the Martinborough terrace provide a distinctive character that sets a benchmark for New Zealand Pinot Noir. An innovative planting in Escarpment’s Te Muna Road vineyard. The site surrounds the Huangarua escarpment relying on a soil type laid down by the river circa 75,000 years ago. The combination of deep alluvial gravels and Martinborough’s warm dry summers creates wines of exceptional power and style. This combined with essentially traditional winemaking techniques secures Kupe as the signature wine for Escarpment’s Pinot Noir endeavours. It is at the vanguard of Pinot Noir style in New Zealand. Read more about Kupe Pinot Noir here. 

Te Rehua Vineyard

This vineyard has a very clear style expression evolving from a traditional planting approach. Geoff Bunny sourced as many clones of Pinot Noir that were available in 1990 and planted them at random in the 1.1ha site. Diversity in planting material is an important part of Terrior producing more complexity and an array of fruit flavours in the resulting wines. Now owned by Tim & Ruth Barton the site is well sheltered and on the edge of the escarpment formed by the Huangarua River. The alluvial loams are typical of Martinborough and help to give the unique qualities when combined with the ideal summer and autumn weather patterns. Read more about Te Rehua Pinot Noir here.

Kiwa Vineyard

Planted on the Martinborough Terrace alluvial gravels, this Single Vineyard Pinot Noir's hallmark is the savory, earthy undertones combining with beautiful ripe black, red and green fruit flavours which are always expressed in the resulting Pinot Noirs. These characters are consistent from year to year ensuring the Terroir is paramount in the bottle. Read more about Kiwa Pinot Noir here. 

Pahi Vineyard

The Pahi Vineyard is situated on Te Muna Road adjected to the Escarpment Vineyard. Planted in 2003, the site possesses the same alluvial, free draining gravel soils which has made Martinborough famous. From an exceptional single site, the estate grown Pahi Vineyard is an individual site selection Pinot Noir sourced from designated rows on the famed Martinborough Terrace. Read more about Pahi Pinot Noir here.