Greywacke Wild Sauvignon 2019
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Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Seductive aromas of homemade apricot jam, vanilla cake and candied lemon peel mingle with a tarragon-like herbal quality, scents of dried meadow hay and a whiff of flintiness. Fermented entirely with naturally occurring yeast, this is a ‘wild child’ sauvignon that is both intricate and textural, with a generous, succulent palate that is packed with stonefruit and citrus – a luscious style, yet crisp and dry, with remarkable ageing potential.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A favorite sauvignon with sliced-pear, apple, smoke and flint aromas that follow through to a full body that is tight and well structured with tension and focus. Drink now.
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Wine Spectator
Offers plenty of nuance and detail, with a vibrant thread of juicy acidity and supple and complex notes of candied ginger, dried honeysuckle and lemon curd. Drink now. 700 cases imported.
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Wine Enthusiast
Fermented in old oak barrels with, as the name suggests, wild yeast, this bottling is always rich, concentrated and outside the box. It's aromatic, wafting guava and grapefruit rind with base notes of white spice, seashell and flint. It needs time in the glass for the oniony reduction to blow off. The mouthfeel is creamy and intense, with citrus that veers a touch sour on the finish.
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One of Marlborough’s pioneering winemakers, Kevin Judd’s appreciable career is intrinsically linked with the global path of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Kevin’s personal venture, Greywacke (pronounced “grey-wacky”), was unveiled in 2009, fulfilling a long-held dream for himself and wife Kimberley.
Named after New Zealand’s prolific bedrock, Greywacke was originally adopted as the name of the Judds’ first vineyard in Rapaura, whose soils had an abundance of these river stones. Now living in the Omaka Valley overlooking Marlborough’s striking patchwork of vines, Kevin sources fruit from mature vineyards in the central Wairau Plains and the Southern Valleys.
Alongside winemaking, Kevin’s talent for photography has seen his evocative images appear in countless publications worldwide, and inevitably, take pride of place on the labels of his solo winemaking venture –– the synthesis of his dual passions.
Capable of a vast array of styles, Sauvignon Blanc is a crisp, refreshing variety that equally reflects both terroir and varietal character. Though it can vary depending on where it is grown, a couple of commonalities always exist—namely, zesty acidity and intense aromatics. This variety is of French provenance. Somm Secret—Along with Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc is a proud parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. That green bell pepper aroma that all three varieties share is no coincidence—it comes from a high concentration of pyrazines (herbaceous aromatic compounds) inherent to each member of the family.
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.