Winemaker Notes
A virtual marmalade of pink grapefruit and limes, with a dash of stem ginger and orange zest. Tropical aromas of mango and pineapple merge with the bright citrus notes and mingle with an earthy texture reminiscent of petrichor (summer rain on dry ground). A unique and seductive sweet savory combination that carries through onto a wonderfully dry, flinty palate. A wine of incredible concentration, tight structure and excellent aging potential.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Expressive and intense minerality of sea spray and flinty aromas followed by lemon zest, apple blossoms and almonds with a hint of dried tea leaves. Medium-bodied, crisp acidity. Piquant and tangy finish. Many interesting savory layers. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Chardonnay leads with loads of flinty reduction, with struck match and fresh-picked curry leaf accompanied by yellow peach and briny acidity. In the mouth, the creamy texture is owed, I believe, largely to malolactic fermentation (handpicked grapes, whole-bunch pressed, with a wild ferment, then straight to barrel in 2021). The 2021 vintage was down 50% in yields, but the quality was excellent across the region. The wine is concentrated and penetrating in both flavor and acidity, and it spools out long over the finish. Lithe and powerful, the wine makes an impact. It is littered with exotic, medicinal characters, with arnica, aniseed, licorice, etc. It's ripe, but it works.
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Wine Spectator
A lovely whiff of smoke and litsea oil adds complexity to the core of grilled Meyer lemon, pineapple, green cardamom and candied ginger flavors, with fresh, vibrant acidity.
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Vinous
The 2021 Chardonnay from Greywacke is made in a punchy style. Intense and concentrated due to tiny yields. Richly toasted oak (Mercurey barrels in case you were interested) lends a smoky bacon and flinty overcoat to this wine's white stone and citrus fruit. It’s not unattractive, but it's certainly a stylistic interpretation of the variety and won't be everyone's cup of tea.
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Wine Enthusiast
In typical Greywacke style, this is an intensely reductive Chardonnay with heady aromas of struck match, roasted cashew, grilled citrus and seashell. The palate is more poised and fruit-forward than the nose suggests, while still being toasty, concentrated and intense, with textural weight and lovely acidity to the harmonious finish.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.