Greywacke

Greywacke is the Judd family's Marlborough label, run from a base in the Omaka Valley, on the southern side of Blenheim. Kevin Judd and his wife Kimberley established it in 2009. It is pronounced grey-wacky, and it is named after New Zealand's most abundant bedrock: the drab grey sandstone that turns up on the mountains, in the rivers and on the beaches, and as the rounded grey stones that fill Marlborough's alluvial vineyard soils.

Kevin Judd's career is tied up with the whole story of New Zealand wine. He was born in England, grew up in Australia, studied winemaking at Roseworthy and made his first wine at Reynella in South Australia. He moved to New Zealand in 1983, joined Selaks, and then became the founding winemaker at Cloudy Bay, directing that company's first twenty-five vintages before leaving to start his own label. He is also a photographer of some standing: the images on the Greywacke labels are his, as are two books, The Colour of Wine and The Landscape of New Zealand Wine. Since May 2021 the winemaking programme has been managed by Richelle Tyney, who came from Spy Valley, with Alex Judd on the winemaking team.

Greywacke does not own great tracts of land. The fruit is bought from mature vineyards in prime sites, all sustainably managed, with a substantial and increasing proportion organically farmed, and the label carries Appellation Marlborough Wine accreditation, which certifies that the fruit is genuinely Marlborough. Crops are kept low, canopies are worked hard for even ripeness, and wild yeast fermentation is used extensively across the range to build savouriness and texture. That is the house signature. The range is built on two varieties, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, with the Sauvignon made in two quite different styles, and limited releases of Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Gris alongside.

The wine most people know Greywacke for is the Wild Sauvignon. Where standard Marlborough Sauvignon is fermented cool and fast in tank, this is barrel-fermented in French oak on its own indigenous yeasts, and the tail of that fermentation can run for more than six months. It comes out of oak before the following harvest and then sits a further six months on lees. The result is a savoury, textured wine rather than a zingy one, and it has become the reference point for what else Marlborough Sauvignon can be.

The Marlborough Riesling is a single-vineyard wine from the organically certified Ashmore Vineyard at Fairhall, off-dry and one of the best-value Rieslings I sell. The winery also holds back small parcels of Wild Sauvignon as Archive Releases, cellared on site and put out years later, which is a rare chance to drink the wine at nine years old rather than at one.

Alongside those sit the standard Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc and the Pinot Noir.