Greywacke Wild Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2021

Greywacke Wild Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand, 2021       

Grape: 100% Sauvignon Blanc, wild ferment and aged in oak for around 12 months. 

Kevin Judd, the original winemaker at Cloudy Bay, produces this spectacular oaked Sauvignon wine.

TASTING NOTE: Imagine 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. Fermented entirely with naturally occurring yeast, this is an alternative style of sauvignon blanc that is both intricate and textural, with a rich, succulent palate finishing crisp and long with a flinty dryness.

CRITICS' TASTING NOTES:

"Distinctive, aromatic and complex, with honeysuckle, candied ginger and a drizzle of wildflower honey. Reveals ripe melon, dried fennel and yellow apple notes that mingle with marmalade, tangerine and a touch of mango on the juicy finish."

93/100 Points, MaryAnn Worobiec, WINESPECTATOR.COM

"The 2021 Wild Sauvignon is superb; the wine has all the tilt and lift of Sauvignon Blanc and all the richness from the maturation vessels, plus something extra from the low-yielding but excellent 2021 vintage. This is an exciting wine that is already so balanced and poised. Excellent. Drink it now (most will) or cellar it for up to 20 years, maybe more?"

95/100 points, Erin Larkin, WINE ADVOCATE, November 2023

VITICULTURE: Fruit was sourced from various vineyard sites in the Southern Valleys and the central Wairau Plains, specifically in Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura. Soil types vary from the young alluvial deposits of Rapaura and Renwick, which contain high proportions of greywacke river stones, to the older and denser clay-loams of the Southern Valleys. A high percentage of the vineyards were trained using the divided Scott Henry canopy management system, with the balance on two- or three-cane VSP (vertical shoot positioning).

WINEMAKING: Some vineyards were harvested by machine during cool (often cold) night time conditions and others by hand during the day. The grapes were lightly pressed to yield a modest volume of high-quality juice, which was then cold-settled prior to racking into French oak barriques, a small percentage of which were new. The juice was allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation, the tail end of which continued for well over six months. The wine had occasional lees stirring and approximately two-thirds underwent malolactic fermentation. It was transferred out of oak prior to the following harvest and left on yeast lees for a further five months. The wine was bottled in September 2021 with alcohol 13.5%, pH 3.16 and acidity 6.3 g/l.