Dry River, founded in 1979 by Neil and Dawn McCallum, is New Zealand's most sought-after Pinot Noir estate, on the alluvial gravels of the Martinborough terrace in the Wairarapa. The 2022 was drawn from vines well over 30 years old, among the country's oldest, farmed under the estate's European-minded, minimal-intervention philosophy that prioritises full physiological ripeness and balance over early appeal. The maritime, windy climate and low yields concentrate the fruit. 2022 was a transition year for the estate, which changed ownership; critics rate the wine highly, advise patience, and expect it to show best from around 2027.

The 2022 was fermented and largely completed in the Dry River manner - hand-picked fruit, measured whole-bunch and reductive complexity, and maturation in French oak with a controlled proportion of new barrels - before being bottled unfined and unfiltered under Diam at 13% alcohol. Because winemaker Wilco Lam left in October 2022 with the wines in barrel and mostly fermented but unfinished, they were completed by incoming winemaker Ben McNab in the same manner they would otherwise have been. The result is fine-boned, savoury and persistent, built for slow, elegant cellaring.