Martinborough Vineyard Vertical Tasting at Somm

Overview

On Saturday, November 4, wine lovers will have the chance to talk all things vino with Paul Mason, Martinborough Vineyard's head winemaker. Mason will be visiting Somm, Auckland's cellar door on the waterfront and home to a variety of award-winning New Zealand wines.

Martinborough is considered one of New Zealand's best wine regions and is famous for producing incredible drops from its pinot noir grapes. Martinborough Vineyard was the first to plant pinot noir in 1980 and has since become known for producing incredible wines from the oldest vines in the area. However, pinot noir isn't all that Martinborough Vineyard excels at, with its chardonnay also winning prizes around the world.

Mason will be guiding guests through a vertical tasting of six different vintages of Martinborough Vineyard's chardonnay, starting with 2011 and working through the years until 2021, the most recent release.

Although all of the vintages are bound to impress, the 2015 vintage is the standout, after being crowned the best chardonnay outside of Burgundy — the grape's birthplace — by Decanter. The tasting will run for four hours on Saturday afternoon, with tickets priced at $30 per person.