"93 Points - Stephen Wong MW therealreview.com
...an attention-grabbing, perfumed and airy expression, filled with pretty floral and sweet apple flavours. Concentrated and linear, the palate reveals a tapered, saline length and streaks of acidity to hold everything in place.
Kevin Judd
A fruit-driven Marlborough style with generosity and weight, it delivers a luscious sense of ripeness that finishes with a mouthwatering lemon-sherbet zing"
Greywacke is the exciting solo venture of Kevin Judd, who was formerly the chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay for 25 vintages, and was instrumental in the international recognition which New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc enjoys today. 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 there.
The debut wine under the Greywacke label was the 2009 vintage with his Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc displaying the hallmarks of Kevin’s famed style: ripe fruit, fine balance, great concentration and superb varietal intensity. Grapes come from prime, low yielding vineyard sites in and around Marlborough’s Southern (Brancott and Ben Morven) Valleys, and are vinified using ‘non-interventionist’ techniques. His range also includes a Wild Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay.
The 2025 vintage in Marlborough was excellent, one of the driest on record with exceptionally settled and near-perfect weather for flowering and fruit set. An El Nino driven summer brought warm days and nights which accelerated ripening, but with careful targeted work in the vineyards to manage yields, concentration and fruit quality were maintained and the results are truly exciting.
The fruit for the Sauvignon Blanc hails from several prime vineyards in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys and the central Wairau Plains (specifically Woodbourne, Renwick and Rapaura). Soil types vary from the young alluvial soils of Rapaura and Renwick, which contain a high proportion of New Zealand’s ubiquitous greywacke river stones from which Greywacke takes its name, to the older and denser clay-loams of the Southern Valleys. After harvesting at night to help preserve Sauvignon Blanc’s delicate aromatics, the fruit was lightly pressed, cold-settled and racked before stainless steel fermentation. The fruit from each vineyard was fermented separately and the wine was lees aged in tank until late May before blending.
The result is a wine with classic Marlborough fruit and signature freshness. Picture a summer picnic table – vases of white blossom, a vibrant salad of aromatic herbs with soft, yellow peach, crunchy pear and a squeeze of juicy lime. On the palate, flavours of honeydew melon and white nectarine mingle with savoury notes of crushed seashells and a hint of chalky minerality.
