Sauvignon Blanc
150cl * Vegan * 13.5% ABV * Marlborough, New Zealand
Greywacke (pronounced grey-wacky) is the wine of Kevin Judd who was the founding, and consequently head, winemaker for the first twenty five vintages of Cloudy Bay (1985 to 2009) and as such was instrumental in establishing the New Zealand wine industry.
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 that is widely found in Marlborough – a great fact you can impress your friends with when you pull out a bottle. After 25 years as Cloudy Bay’s winemaker, Judd says he wanted ‘more time with the gum boots on and less time running reports’. But he admits it meant starting from scratch again. He’s having to do everything himself – he’s the winemaker, forklift truck driver, marketing director, designer and IT man rolled into one.
The Wild Sauvignon is fermented using native 'wild' yeasts, rather than anything cultured, in order to encourage more complex aroma and flavour development in the final wine. A portion of the wine is fermented in old French barrels and another portion undergoes malolactic fermentation in order to increase its textural creaminess. Toastier and funkier than the regular Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc, this is 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. Intricate and textural, with a rich, succulent palate finishing crisp and long with a flinty dryness, this is one of the most intriguing - and quite excellent - Kiwi Sauvignons out there.