GREYWACKE WILD SAUVIGNON

Tasting notes:

Flavours of a summer fruit salad of paw paw, honeydew melon and ripe, golden quinces – drizzled with citrus flower water and a squeeze of orange skin oil. A delicious floral fragrance and juicy tropical fruit, infused with a fennel-like herbal thread and a faint whiff of wood smoke. Fermented entirely with naturally occurring yeast, this is an alternative style of Sauvignon Blanc that is both intricate and textural, with a rich, succulent palate finishing crisp and long with a flinty dryness.

About the wine:

Fruit was sourced from various vineyard sites in the Southern Valleys and the central Wairau Plains, specifically in Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura. Soil types vary from the young alluvial deposits of Rapaura and Renwick, which contain high proportions of greywacke river stones, to the older and denser clay loams of the Southern Valleys. A high percentage of the vineyards were trained using the divided Scott Henry canopy management system, with the balance on two- or three-cane vertical shoot positioning.

Winter of 2020 was abnormally dry and warm, leading to an early spring. A handful of frosts coincided with an early budburst, leading to reduced crops in some sites. Cool, wet weather during flowering negatively affected fruit set across the region and hot, dry conditions during the summer months further compounded the already reduced yields. Weather during March and April was near-perfect, allowing the fruit to achieve optimal ripeness without disease pressure and allowing a relatively early, leisurely harvesting schedule. Sadly, the tonnages that arrived at the winery were surprisingly modest, under-delivering on even the most conservative crop estimates. The wines show great promise, particularly the Sauvignon Blancs which shows intense flavours and great concentration.

Some vineyards were machine harvested during cool (often cold) night-time conditions, and others by hand during the day. The grapes were lightly pressed then the juice cold-settled prior to racking into French oak barriques, a small percentage of which were new. The juice was allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation, the tail end of which continued for well over six months. The wine had occasional lees stirring and approximately two-thirds underwent malolactic fermentation. It was transferred out of oak prior to the following harvest and left on yeast lees for a further five months. Bottling took place in September 2021.

About the producer:

Greywacke is the solo venture of Kevin Judd, who was formerly the chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay for 25 vintages and was instrumental in the international recognition which New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc enjoys today.

The name ‘Greywacke’ was adopted by Kevin for his first Marlborough vineyard located in Rapaura in recognition of the high prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the soils there. The debut wine under the Greywacke label was the 2009 vintage with his Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc displaying the hallmarks of Kevin’s famed style: ripe fruit, fine balance, great concentration and superb varietal intensity. Grapes come from prime, low yielding vineyard sites in and around Marlborough’s Southern (Brancott and Ben Morven) Valleys, and are vinified using ‘non-interventionist’ techniques.