In a world awash with Dry January messages, I am happy to confess to enjoying the first month of the year with dry wines. Not all of them have come from this region but among the best is a new dry rosé from a forgotten corner of Martinborough.
The winemakers in and around this village do a stellar job with rosé because they aim for high quality and they have stiff competition.
Rosé has been outselling white wine in France since 2013 and there’s no shortage of it in New Zealand. During my eight-year tenure as Wine Programme Director at Regional Wines & Spirits in Wellington, the rosé shelves emptied out faster than any others – and still do – which leads us to an excellent new release – 2025 Mason Rosé.
Rosé shelves emptied out faster than any others – and still do – which leads us to an excellent new release – 2025 Mason Rosé.
The wine is made by Paul Mason, who purchased a long-neglected vineyard at the south end of Te Muna Valley in late 2021, with his partner, Amy. Vines were originally planted there in 2001 by the late Bill Brink but the site was overgrown with wires were all over the place and the only solution was to chop it back or uproot it. The Masons opted to chop the vines back.
“It was a real basket case set-up, entirely planted in Pinot Noir but with six clones on seven different rootstocks, including some I had never heard of,” says Paul.
He and Amy have since added new vine plantings of Pinot Noir Dijon clones (777, 667 and 115), all highly valued for the complex options they bring to the winemaking table.
The first vintage of Mason Rosé and Pinot Noir was 2023. Paul says it was a tricky year to launch a new brand but the wines were solid expressions of the cooler climate in Te Muna Valley, 10kms away from the village. They harvest their grapes up to a month later than in the village, with the longer hang time bringing ripe fruit forward flavours balanced by crisp acidity from the cool nights.
Paul says their aim is to make wines to reflect the place – Te Muna is te reo Maori for ‘special place’ or ‘hidden place’ and all the work at this secluded site is done by them from the pruning, leaf plucking, shoot positioning and spraying to the harvesting. The results speak for themselves in excellent wines.
You may have gathered I’m not a big fan of Dry January. I prefer practicing moderation throughout the year. But if you made it through last month ‘dry’, enjoy the wine in your glass now. It’ll never have tasted as good.
WINE OF THE MONTH
2025 Mason Rosé RRP $36
Rosé is rarely this good or this dry with 1.5 grams of residual sugar making it smooth with vibrant red and dark berry fruit forward flavours and, best of all, a lingering zesty finish with notes of ripe citrus and red apples. Just 771 bottles were made, so get in quick.
Available from Martinborough Wine Merchants.
