GREYWACKE CHARDONNAY 2012 Wine Review

GREYWACKE CHARDONNAY 2012

Marlborough, New Zealand

Community Score:93/100

Community Reviews: 1

Add My Review

Drink: Now

Wine Type: White Wine

Add New Vintage

Pricing & Stock Information

BCLDB
11111
Check Stock

Reviews and Ratings

Steve Kubota rated this wine as 93/100 with the following review:

GREYWACKE Kevin Judd
CHARDONNAY 2012
BLENHEIM (MARLBOROUGH), NEW ZEALAND

From the Winery:
Greywacke is the Marlborough label of Kevin Judd, and the fulfilment of a long held dream. The name Greywacke was adopted by Kevin and his wife Kimberley for their first Marlborough vineyard located in Rapaura, named in recognition of the high prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the soils of the vineyard. Kevin registered the name back in 1993 with the vague notion that he might one day want to use it on a wine label of his own.

This quality focused winemaking venture sources fruit from mature vineyards within the central Wairau Plains and the Southern Valleys. These prime viticultural sites are cultivated using yield restricting vineyard management techniques and intense canopy management regimes. A number of the vineyards are owned by the Sutherland family, while complementary grape parcels are acquired from additional select sites, all located within these sub-regions.

The wines are made by Kevin at Dog Point Winery in the lower Brancott Valley, a facility extended to him by long-standing friends and industry colleagues, Ivan Sutherland and James Healy.

Viticulture:
The grapes for this wine are primarily sourced from the low-yielding Mendoza clone, known for its concentration of flavour and crisp acidity, the balance were from Clone 95. The majority of the fruit was sourced from the lower reaches of the Brancott Valley and Fairhall, grown in gravelly, clay-loam soils, the remainder coming from Rapaura, grown in young alluvial soils containing high proportions of New Zealand’s ubiquitous greywacke river stones. All
vineyards were trained on a two-cane VSP (vertical shoot positioning) trellis.

Winemaking:
The vineyards were hand-picked separately at high ripeness levels and whole bunch pressed using very low maceration press cycles. The resulting juice was lightly settled and racked to French oak barriques (20% new).
The juice was allowed to undergo spontaneous indigenous yeast fermentation, the final phase continuing for many months. The wine received occasional lees stirring and underwent a complete malo-lactic fermentation. It was transferred out of oak after 18 months and bottled in December 2013 with an alcohol of 14.5%, pH 3.35 and acidity of 7.0 g/l.

My Tasting Notes:

I tasted the Greywacke Chardonnay at a New Zealand Bubbly and Chardonnay promotion. The wines were chosen by an astute panel of industry experts in New Zealand to help showcase the best of the best wines for each category. There are two main islands that comprise New Zealand. The Greywacke Chardonnay was tasted with four other south island producers and six producers from the north island. There are quite contrasting styles from each region making this a potpourri and flavourfest for lovers of Chardonnay.

Kevin Judd is world renown for his sublime Sauvignon Blanc and his ability to produce mouth-watering Chardonnay won’t be a secret for too much longer. This is a refined and deliciously balanced wine that exhibits abundant fresh orange and juicy lemon citrus notes in the bouquet and on the palate. There also pear and apple notes in the smooth, lush and flavourful finish. This is one of the best Chardonnay at the event. The wine is excellent and many will drink it on its own but you can pair this with a wide variety of fresh oysters on the half-shell. Drink now to 2022.

Varietal composition: 100% Chardonnay
Region: Marlborough
Alcohol: 14.5%
Sugar: 2.9 g/l
Total acidity: 7.0 g/l
pH: 3.35

Tasted on May 14th, 2015

@stevekubota

If you liked the GREYWACKE CHARDONNAY 2012, you might also like these wines:

Update details for this wine
Add bottle and/or label shots for this wine
Wineries and agents: Add notes for this wine
Find this wine in other stores

Recipes for GREYWACKE CHARDONNAY 2012

WANT TO LEARN HOW TO

PAIR WINE
& FOOD?

Join me in a free online video class to learn the secrets to perfect pairings.

SAVE MY SEAT!

Wine of the Week

As featured on

VINADA® Sparkling Wine
Crispy Chardonnay Mini Sparkling,
Languedoc ...

Natalie MacLean

Natalie MacLean offers North America's most popular online wine and food pairing classes. She was named the World's Best Drinks Writer at the World Food Media Awards in Australia.

Natalie has published two books with Random House, both selected as one of Amazon's Best Books of the Year.

Join 327,153 thirsty wine lovers who get access to all of her wine reviews by becoming a member of her site. Take a free online pairing class with her here.

FEEL LOST IN THE

LCBO?

Know the wines you want before you even get to the store with my wine reviews. Join now. It's free.

Red, White & Drunk All Over

Best Books of the Year

Natalie MacLean writes about wine with a sensuous obsession... and often laugh-out-loud funny... Terrific.

Rex Pickett, Sideways

Ms. MacLean is the disarming Everywoman. She loves wine, loves drinking ... ultimately, it's a winning formula.

Eric Asimov, The New York Times

GOT A SMARTPHONE?

Access my reviews on mobile with the bar code scanner.

GET NAT'S APP

Unquenchable: A Tipsy Search

Best Books of the Year

Natalie MacLean is a new force in the wine writing world ‐ a feisty North American answer to Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. She can write beautifully about wine.

The Financial Times of London

There are very few people in the wine world who "get it" and Natalie is one of those who brings more fun to a buttoned-up and stodgy game.

Gary Vaynerchuck, Wine Library TV

Starting a Wine Cellar?

Expert advice for all budgets

From wine racks to underground caves, insider tips on size and space, number of bottles, ideal conditions and reputable resources. learn more

Welcome Back!Sign in here:

Not Registered?Become one of our thirsty clan 327,153 strong:

GREYWACKE CHARDONNAY 2012 Wine Review

Pricing & Stock Information