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Greywacke

After 25 years spent putting Cloudy Bay and Marlborough on the world wine map for Sauvignon Blanc, Kevin Judd struck out on his own in 2009 with his Greywacke label. Judd, who is also an accomplished photographer—he recently published The Landscape of New Zealand Wine and was also responsible for the first edition of The Wine Dogs of New Zealand in 2005--owns neither vineyards nor a winery. Rather, he uses space in the Dog Point winery, owned by his former Cloudy Bay colleagues Ivan Sutherland and James Healy, and purchases 75% of his fruit from Sutherland’s vineyards, the rest from local growers who he pays by surface rather than by quantity of fruit.

His two Sauvignon Blanc bottlings represent 75% of his total annual production of 30,000 cases and all of his wines are blends of two or more vineyards. Judd has always sought to make what he describes as “non-aggressive, ripe wine,” using the divided Scott Henry system of horizontal trellising, which gives his vines dappled light and protects the fruit against sunburn. He typically shoots for 10 or 11 tons of fruit per hectare, arguing that "lower yields are much more likely to achieve high levels of ripeness and fruit with greater concentration of flavor." But Judd is also careful not to pick excessively ripe fruit these days: he noted that 2015 was a hot and dry growing season but it cooled down toward the end and the harvest was long.

Production of the Greywacke Wild Sauvignon is up to 5,000 cases and it’s usually a bit lower in acidity than the “regular” wine; it’s also made with a higher percentage of malolactic fermentation. “I’ve always liked the riper side of the venture,”” Judd summarized.

From New Zealand’s Pellucid Wines: More Light Than Heat (May 2016) by Stephen Tanzer

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2013 Chardonnay

Release Price: $39

Color: White

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