Greywacke Wine

Greywacke is a wine producer based in New Zealand, a family business that now exports wine worldwide. Greywacke is the Marlborough label of the Judd family and is the name of New Zealand’s most common bedrock, which is found throughout Marlborough rivers and vineyard soils. The company lives by the idea of ‘keeping it simple’ whilst keeping a hands-on approach with a small and highly dedicated team running the operation. The Greywacke range is primarily based upon Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir as they are the most popular, yet limited releases of Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Gris complement the lineup.

Greywacke Wines

With Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir being the most popular, we will have a look at these wines in detail to find what makes them so well-received.

Let's delve into the details of our popular Sauvignon Blanc. The grapes, harvested in cooler conditions, are picked into half-tonne bins and lightly pressed in tank presses. The resulting juice is then fermented in a stainless steel tank and left on lees. The 2023 Sauvignon Blanc range offers a delightful blend of aromas, including lemon sorbet and green mango, featuring a slight hint of white pepper. This version is an elegant yet striking interpretation of Marlborough Sauvignon, known for its textural and lifted character.

The Pinot Noir is sweet-scented with aromas of plums, raspberries, and black cherries layered with notes of roasted chestnuts and tobacco. For the palate, it has a smoky and lively finish. The wine is left to age in 30% new French oak barrels to achieve the best result possible. Similar to Sauvignon Blanc, the grapes are hand-harvested and chilled in cooler conditions, typically in night conditions. However, this fruit is soaked on skins before the onset of indigenous yeast fermentation. All individual batches are aged in barrels separately for 16 months.

Greywacke Heritage

Greywacke was created in 2009 by Kevin Judd, who was chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay for 25 years and was instrumental in the international recognition of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Kevin Judd also developed a parallel career in photography, with his images appearing in countless publications worldwide, also creating two books based on the vineyards of Marlborough and New Zealand wine. The titles of the books are 'The Colour of Wine' and 'The Landscape of New Zealand Wine'.

Demonstrating the importance of their roots, the business is named after the most abundant stone in New Zealand, as his first Marlborough vineyard location was in Rapaura. This rock was found all over Marlborough and has a high prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the soils of the vineyard, therefore helping to produce the wine.