Dog Point Vineyard was founded in 2002 by Ivan Sutherland and James Healy, who spent more than two decades each at Cloudy Bay as viticulturist and winemaker respectively before establishing their own estate in the Wairau Valley of Marlborough. Their experience at Cloudy Bay gave them an unrivalled understanding of Marlborough’s finest viticultural sites, and the estate they built at Dog Point incorporates some of the oldest and lowest-yielding vineyards in the region, with plantings dating back to the 1970s. The property is now certified organic, and all wines are hand-harvested, a distinction that sets Dog Point apart from the vast majority of Marlborough producers.

The Dog Point Pinot Noir is sourced from six different Pinot Noir clones on vines dating back to 1983, farmed at yields of approximately 35 hectolitres per hectare, about half the Marlborough average. The 2022 growing season in New Zealand’s South Island was defined by warm, dry conditions that allowed for full ripening and produced wines of excellent concentration across Marlborough. Twenty-five percent whole-bunch fermentation is incorporated in a consistent approach from year to year, and the wine spends 18 months in French oak of which 30% is new, a proportion calibrated to add complexity without obscuring the fruit and floral character of the estate’s older vine material.

Dog Point has built a global reputation as arguably Marlborough’s finest producer, with critics and sommeliers consistently acknowledging the estate’s ability to produce Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay of a quality and complexity that extend well beyond the region’s commercial mainstream. The Pinot Noir in particular has attracted significant attention for its ability to produce wines of genuine elegance and Burgundian-inspired precision from Marlborough’s typically warm and aromatic terroir. The 2022 is designed to age well over a decade, reflecting the estate’s philosophy of producing wines for the table and the cellar in equal measure.