Spotlight on… Lawson’s Dry Hills in Marlborough

Lawson’s Dry Hills By Joelle Thomson Lawson’s Dry Hills is all about firsts. It was was of the first vineyards in Marlborough’s modern wine industry when it was founded by Ross and Barbara Lawson in 1982. They initially sold all the grapes they grew before launching Lawson’s Dry Hills wines in 1992. Another decade later, they were one of the first to launch wines with screwcaps in 2001, along with 26 other wineries who collaborated with this innovative new packaging. The couple and their wines have been highly instrumental in New Zealand’s modern wine scene and while Ross has sadly passed away, Barbara remains strongly involved. And Lawson’s Dry Hills remains a 100% Marlborough winery, using grapes from the area’s sub regions on the Wairau Plains, Waihopai, Omaka and Awatere valleys. Each area brings a different character and strength to bear on the great wines made at this significant, pioneering and adventurous Marlborough winery. Star wine of the week 18.5/20 4.5 stars 2017 Lawson's Dry Hills Gewurztaminer Marlborough winemakers Marcus Wright and Rebecca Wiffen make a beautifully aromatic expression of Gewurztraminer, which is all about Turkish delight on the nose with dry flavours of ripe orange zest and citrus on the palate. Its residual sugar is 7 grams per litre, which is on the cusp of dry to off dry, but finishes on a fresh crisp note, thanks to acidity from the region’s cool nights. This ensures the wine tastes dry. It drinks well now and can cellar for five to six years. 18.5/20 4.5 stars 2019 Lawson's Dry Hills Pinot Noir Lawson’s Dry Hills Pinot Noir was one of the first to make me sit up and take notice of Marlborough Pinot, thanks to its savoury, earthy characters and fresh acidity, which adds fabulous structure to this wine. Winemakers Marcus Wright and Rebecca Wiffen create a fruit driven Pinot which is bottled unfined and ticks the vegan friendly box. It tastes a treat with its smooth with refreshing acidity for structure. Joelle Thomson is a wine writer, journalist and author. She’s an avid lover of wine and currently writes for Capital magazine, Good magazine, NZ Winegrower, Drinksbiz, and her own site, www.joellethomson.com. She also teaches, works in radio, and more, so we've enlisted her help to sniff out our amazing value wines!