In Stock Equiv £28.50 (Save £9.00)
It is indisputably a brilliant Pinot Noir and must come near the pinnacle of Pinot production in Marlborough. Kevin Judd has also released a small quantity of an exceptional Pinot Noir, also from Marlborough. Kevin is a huge fan of Premier Cru Burgundy from the Cotes de Nuits (think Gevrey Chambertin, Chambolle, Nuits St Georges). All the fruit is hand-picked, sorted ruthlessly for quality and aged in French Oak barriques, of which around half are new oak, the rest 2nd and 3rd fill.
It is indisputably a brilliant Pinot Noir and must come near the pinnacle of Pinot production in Marlborough. It may appeal less to lovers of the Central Otago (full-throttle) style as this first vintage has a little more delicacy and less extracted fruit than we tend to find from Central Otago. There is a perfume and creaminess in this wine which makes it quite different. In particular this wine has some of the characteristics of warmer vintage Burgundy but with more perfume and not quite as much rawness. All in all it’s a very good Pinot indeed. Ready to enjoy but could be cellared through to 2018.
Kevin Judd is intrinsically linked with the global profile of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Born in England and raised in Australia he moved to NZ in 1983 becoming the founding winemaker at little known winery Cloudy Bay. Kevin played a pivotal role, directing the first 25 vintages until he resigned in 2008. By any definition he is the father of the inimitable NZSB style. Not only this Kevin has a parallel career as one of the World's great wine photographers.
Fruit for Greywacke SB is sourced from the small Judd Family vineyard in Rapaura and from mature Sutherland family plots in the Wairau Plains and Southern Marlborough Valleys – specifically Woodbourne and Renwick. The name derives from the indigenous Greywacke rock that is prevalent throughout the Marlborough region and was registered as a wine name by Kevin back in 1993 with the vague notion that he might one day want to produce a wine of his own. Today he is also producing a stunning Chardonnay, a full-throttle lees aged and lightly oaked 'Wild' Sauvignon, a Pinot Noir that has given critics serious cause to revise their view of Marlborough Pinot and a late harvest Gewurztraminer sweet wine.
The wines are made by Kevin at the famous Dog Point winery, a facility extended to him by long-standing friends and industry colleagues Ivan Sutherland and James Healy. Kevin’s famed ‘non-interventionist’ technique is leading to more and more great wines.