Botrytis Pinot Gris Marlborough 2018 Greywacke (375ml)

To produce the Botrytis Pinot Gris Marlborough Greywacke, the shrivelled grapes were whole bunch pressed using very long, low maceration press cycles. The juices were cold-settled and then racked to old barrels for fermentation. 40% of the barrels were inoculated with cultured yeast and the others were allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation. The fermentation was eventually stopped in September retaining 105 g/l residual sugar. The wine remained in barrel on lees for a further nine months.

The fruit for this wine was grown near Renwick at the vineyard surrounding Greywacke HQ on young alluvial soils containing high proportions of New Zealand’s ubiquitous greywacke river stones. This 18-year-old vineyard is planted with the Berry-Smith clone and trained on a two-cane VSP (Vertical Shoot Positioning) trellis.

Greywacke was created in 2009 by Kevin Judd, chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay from its inception for 25 years and instrumental in the international recognition which Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc enjoys now. The name ‘Greywacke’ was adopted by Kevin for his first Marlborough vineyard located in Rapaura in recognition of the high prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the soils of the vineyard, a sedimentary rock which is widely found in Marlborough. Kevin Judd is also New Zealand’s finest wine photographer and has recently published a book ‘The Landscape of New Zealand Wine’.