Greywacke Wild Sauvignon Blanc 2021

Tasting note: Picture a shortcrust pie, loaded with quince and yellow apple, a layer of juicy gooseberries and topped with caramelised lemon slices. Served with a good dollop of vanilla custard and sprinkled with lightly toasted fennel seeds. Complex and textural, Greywacke Wild Sauvignon is a feast for the senses. Fermented with wild yeast, it’s a hands-off style of Marlborough sauvignon blanc, with a succulent palate that finishes crisp and long.

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) nighttime 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 six months. The wine was bottled in September 2022 with alcohol 14.0%, pH 3.19 and acidity 6.1 g/l.