ORATERRA

Oraterra is an exciting new-generation producer from Martinborough, New Zealand, created by the experienced team formerly behind Dry River, one of the region's most respected estates. When Dry River changed ownership in 2022, the team chose to remain together and establish a new project built around their shared experience, philosophy and understanding of the Martinborough landscape.

The founding group brought together winemakers Wilco Lam and Sam Rouse, vineyard specialists James Pittard, Michelle Mills and McKenzie Smith, and general manager Sarah Bartlett. Rouse helped shape the first two vintages before moving on, while Tom de Hamel joined the winemaking team for the 2025 harvest. Today Wilco Lam leads the cellar with de Hamel, while the original vineyard and management team remains largely intact.

The name Oraterra translates as “golden earth”, immediately expressing the philosophy behind the project. Rather than simply creating another Martinborough label, the team wanted to build wines around geology, farming and the individuality of specific vineyard sites.

Oraterra's vineyards lie on the Martinborough Terrace, an area defined by free-draining alluvial soils deposited by ancient river systems. Topsoil depth varies and may contain clay, but underneath lie deep beds of river gravel with relatively low water-holding capacity and limited fertility. These naturally restrictive soils are fundamental to Martinborough's ability to produce concentrated yet finely structured wines.

The climate provides an equally important influence. Martinborough sits within a broad river valley at the southern end of the Wairarapa, bordered by the Tararua and Aorangi ranges and influenced by the nearby Pacific Ocean. The combination of a cool climate, low rainfall and free-draining soils was famously identified by soil scientist Dr Derek Milne in the late 1970s as sharing important characteristics with Burgundy, helping inspire the modern development of Martinborough viticulture.

Oraterra currently works entirely from its own Martinborough vineyards: the McCreanor Block and La Belle Vie. The McCreanor vineyard on Princess Street is particularly significant. The approximately four-hectare site was originally planted during the 1980s and had previously supplied fruit to producers including Escarpment before becoming a cornerstone of the Oraterra project.

Farming is central to the identity of Oraterra. Every vineyard is managed using a combination of organic, biodynamic and regenerative practices, without synthetic fertilisers, insecticides or pesticides. The objective is to encourage biological activity, soil fertility and resilient vines while allowing roots to explore the deep, dry gravel soils beneath the vineyards.

Dry farming is preferred wherever conditions permit. Rather than routinely supplying vines with water, Oraterra encourages deeper rooting systems capable of exploring the underlying geology. This approach reflects the estate's broader belief that meaningful wine begins with a living vineyard rather than being constructed through intervention in the cellar.

The current collection is deliberately focused around Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, three varieties particularly capable of expressing Martinborough's cool climate and gravel soils. Wines are produced by hand in very small quantities and much of the production is sold through allocation.

Pinot Noir sits naturally at the centre of the project. Martinborough has developed an international reputation for structured, aromatic Pinot Noir, and Oraterra approaches the variety through its detailed understanding of individual vineyard sites. The wines seek character rather than conformity, with the team explicitly rejecting the idea that every variety should be forced into a predetermined stylistic archetype.

The same philosophy applies to Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. Rather than simply pursuing obvious varietal flavours, Oraterra explores texture, structure and site expression. The objective across the collection is to produce wines of restraint, nuance and what the team describes as “quiet strength”—wines intended to reveal their origins gradually rather than relying on immediate intensity.

Winemaking follows directly from the vineyard philosophy. Fermentations rely on wild yeasts, while intervention is kept deliberately restrained. The winery is viewed as an extension of the vineyards rather than a separate production environment, with maturation and time used to allow each wine to develop its own identity.

This connection between vineyard and cellar is articulated through the estate's unusual five-element manifesto—Earth, Air, Water, Fire and Aether. Earth represents geology and place; Air reflects life and organic farming; Water represents nourishment and responsibility; while the remaining elements explore transformation and the less tangible aspects of wine. The manifesto provides a framework for how the team thinks about farming, winemaking and its relationship with the wider Martinborough community.

The wines are intentionally scarce. Oraterra states that production remains limited each year, with New Zealand customers primarily accessing releases through The Fold, its allocation-based wine community. International distribution is similarly selective; in Australia, the estate is represented by Saint Wine.

What makes Oraterra particularly compelling is the experience behind such a young name. This is not a project created by a newly assembled team learning a vineyard region from scratch. Its founders spent years working together at Dry River before establishing Oraterra, carrying a deep collective understanding of Martinborough viticulture and fine-wine production into their new estate.

At the same time, Oraterra is deliberately not intended to be a recreation of Dry River. Organic, biodynamic and regenerative farming, individual vineyard expression, wild fermentation and a willingness to question conventional expressions of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris give the estate its own increasingly distinct identity.

For collectors interested in the continuing evolution of Martinborough fine wine, Oraterra is therefore a particularly important emerging producer to follow. It combines the experience of one of New Zealand's established fine-wine teams with a fresh project centred on exceptional vineyard sites, living soils, restrained winemaking and small-scale production.

Shop Oraterra wines online at Wine More Cellars Australia. Discover limited-production Martinborough Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris with Australia-wide shipping and free delivery on eligible orders over $199.