Greywacke Marlborough Pinot Noir 2015
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James
Suckling - Decanter
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Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker -
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Spectator
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has impressive richness and concentration, whereby darker cherries and sweetly spiced earthy nuances run through the nose to an effortless, pillowy palate texture. The tannins here are smartly wrapped around ripe plums and dark cherries. So seamless and long. Drink now to 2025.
Range: 95-96 -
Decanter
From several different plots, all of different Pinot clones, the fruit was kept separate and partially whole-bunch fermented with wild yeast, then aged separately in medium-toast French oak, 40% new, for 18 months. It was then blended, fined and bottled. It has a lovely bright cherry nose, followed on the palate by some tarry oak, dark chocolate and fresh red fruits. The oak is dominant at the moment, with a fuller, richer, woodier character than the 2012, but it should settle down to reveal the purity of the fruit beneath.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Over the last five years, since I was first introduced to Greywacke via tasting the wines and visiting the winery, I have gained a fondness for what they have been making. The 2015 Pinot Noir is a first-rate effort. TASTING NOTES: This wine is solid all the way around. Its aromas and flavors of tar, oak, and wild leaves should provide plenty of stuffing for a well-dressed turkey dinner. (Tasted: September 26, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Kevin Judd's 2015 Pinot Noir is in the dark-fruited style of the vintage, marked by notes of black cherries, cola and spice. It's only medium-bodied, with silky tannins and crisp acids, but it shows the concentrated character found in many of Marlborough's 2015 Pinots. It should drink well for up to decade.
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Wine Spectator
Robust and expressive, offering a spicy, campfire edge to the plum and cherry flavors, with shades of herb, spice and cola, backed by muscular tannins. Drink now through 2028.
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One of Marlborough’s pioneering winemakers, Kevin Judd’s appreciable career is intrinsically linked with the global path of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Kevin’s personal venture, Greywacke (pronounced “grey-wacky”), was unveiled in 2009, fulfilling a long-held dream for himself and wife Kimberley.
Named after New Zealand’s prolific bedrock, Greywacke was originally adopted as the name of the Judds’ first vineyard in Rapaura, whose soils had an abundance of these river stones. Now living in the Omaka Valley overlooking Marlborough’s striking patchwork of vines, Kevin sources fruit from mature vineyards in the central Wairau Plains and the Southern Valleys.
Alongside winemaking, Kevin’s talent for photography has seen his evocative images appear in countless publications worldwide, and inevitably, take pride of place on the labels of his solo winemaking venture –– the synthesis of his dual passions.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
An icon and leading region of New Zealand's distinctive style of Sauvignon blanc, Marlborough has a unique terroir, making it ideal for high quality grape production (of many varieties). Despite some common generalizations, which could be fairly justified given that Marlborough is responsible for 90% of New Zealand's Sauvignon blanc production, the wines from this region are actually anything but homogenous. At the northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, the vineyards of Marlborough benefit from well-draining, stony soils, a dry, sunny climate and wide temperature fluctuations between day and night, a phenomenon that supports a perfect balance between berry ripeness and acidity.
The region’s king variety, Sauvignon blanc, is beloved for its pungent, aromatic character with notes of exotic tropical fruit, freshly cut grass and green bell pepper along with a refreshing streak of stony minerality. These wines are made in a wide range of styles, and winemakers take advantage of various clones, vineyard sites, fermentation styles, lees-stirring and aging regimens to differentiate their bottlings, one from one another.
Also produced successfully here are fruit-forward Pinot noirs (especially where soils are clay-rich), elegant Riesling, Pinot gris and Gewürztraminer.