Greywacke Pinot Gris

Greywacke was created in 2009 by Kevin Judd, chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay from its inception for 25 years and instrumental in the international recognition which Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc enjoys now. 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 of the vineyard, a sedimentary rock which is widely found in Marlborough. Kevin Judd is also New Zealand's finest wine photographer and has recently published a book 'The Landscape of New Zealand Wine'.

Pinot Gris,

The fruit for this wine was grown at the organically-farmed Ashmore Vineyard in Fairhall, adjacent to the mouth of the Brancott Valley. The soils are gravelly clay-loam and conditions are more typical of the Southern Valleys than the Wairau plains. The 25-year-old vines are trained on a two cane VSP trellis with careful shoot and bunch thinning carried out to regulate yields.

2020 was slightly warmer than average and delivered superb quality across all varieties. The season had a nervous start with some frost in early October, but the rest of spring saw typical conditions. Weather through flowering was settled and fruit set was very good. December saw significant rainfall, and was followed by the driest period in nearly eighty years. After the extremely dry and sunny summer the weather during the ripening period cooled, extending the growing season and producing near perfect conditions to achieve ripe fruit whilst retaining excellent intensity and acidity. On 24th March, New Zealand entered lockdown due to Covid-19. Fortunately the team were able to work as a big family isolation bubble and the harvest functioned efficiently, in the face of very challenging circumstances.

The grapes were hand picked at moderate ripeness levels to capture the exuberance and natural acidity of the variety, and were whole bunch pressed using a very low maceration press cycle. The resulting juice was cold-settled, then racked to fermentation vessels. Half of the juice was inoculated in a stainless steel tank using cultured yeast, while the other half was filled into old French oak barriques, where it was allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation. All of the wine was then transferred to a stainless steel tank where the fermentation was stopped, retaining 19 g/L residual sugar. The blended wine was filled into old barrels, where it remained on yeast lees for a further five months, prior to bottling in November.

This wine has intense aromas of fragrant jasmine, honeydew melon, Granny Smith apples and lemon zest which combine with anise and sweet blossom notes. Silky and textural on the palate with flavours of honeysuckle. citrus peel, and juicy stone fruit. Off-dry with a zesty acidity which drives to the long and elegant finish.

This is a lovely match for Persian or East Asian cuisine.