Greywacke Botrytis Pinot Gris

An opulent concoction that conjures thoughts of roasted apricots, cumquat marmalade on toasted brioche and white chocolate nougat. A voluptuous interpretation of pinot gris, with a luscious palate that is laced with dried fruits, dates and wildflower honey. This is a succulent, sweet wine with great concentration and a deliciously crisp, persistent finish.

Much of the fruit for this wine is from the Mission clone, grown at Wrekin Terrace Vineyard in the Brancott Valley, a valley floor site on gravelly clay-loam soils. A smaller parcel of the Berrysmith clone was grown near Renwick on young alluvial soils containing high proportions of New Zealand’s ubiquitous greywacke river stones.

The shrivelled grapes were whole-bunch pressed using a very long, low maceration press cycle. The juice was cold-settled and then racked to fermentation vessels. Half of the juice was fermented with indigenous yeast in old French oak barriques and the balance was fermented in stainless steel using cultured yeast. The fermentations all stop by September, averaging 130g/l residual sugar. The wine is blended in October and remains on yeast lees for a further nine months prior to bottling in July.

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 of the vineyard, a sedimentary rock which is widely found in Marlborough.