Pinot Noir 2020

Kevin Judd is one of the region’s pioneering winemakers who have helped establish New Zealand wines. In 2009, he established his own winery, which he named Greywacke , after the bedrock (sandstone) that gives rise to the vineyards around the Wairau River. Based in the Omaka Valley, Kevin and his small team craft fine, complex wines. The low-intervention winemaking methods aim to produce wines with distinctive character. Among them is his signature wine, Wild Sauvignon, a new-wave Sauvignon, fermented in old barrels with indigenous yeasts, which plays as much on the purity of the fruit as on the creaminess of the texture.

Grapes are sourced from a variety of vineyards in the southern valleys and central Wairau plains, particularly Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura. Soil types vary from alluvial deposits, marine sedimentary rocks and dense clays.

Introduced in 1819, the cultivation of vines was greatly developed by Jean-Baptiste Pompallier, a French Marist missionary. Sent to Oceania in 1837, he settled in January 1838 to develop the New Zealand vineyards. The first quality vineyards were established in the Hawke's Bay region in the 19th and early 20th centuries. After the production hazards first due to Phylloxera and then to the First World War, this vineyard began to expand again during the Second World War when its surface area doubled. Today, New Zealand has 10 major wine regions spread between the North and South Islands, the largest of which is Marlborough. Most of New Zealand's wine regions have a maritime climate. The long, thin shape of the country means that vineyards are never more than 120km from the coast and most are even much closer than that (with the exception of the semi-continental region of Central Otago). A spine of mountains running through the center of the country protects most of the major wine regions from the strong westerly winds from the Tasman Sea known as the "Roaring Forties". Due to these winds, there are few wine growing regions on the west coast of New Zealand. The quality and reputation of New Zealand wines is well established. Indeed, this country produces some of the best and most recognized Sauvignon Blanc in the world. And it is no coincidence that New Zealand has succeeded in making Sauvignon blanc its symbol, just like its sheep, its kiwi and its legendary haka!