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 (pronounced grey whacky) river stones found in the soils of the vineyard. Kevin registered the name back in 1993 with the idea that he might one day want to use it on a wine label of his own. Born in England, Kevin grew up in Australia.

He attended the esteemed Roseworthy College to study winemaking, after which he signed on with Reynella in South Australia. Subsequently he moved to New Zealand to work at Selaks winery, after which he became the inaugural winemaker at a place that would pioneer New Zealand wines in the world marketplace and became the standard bearer for the emerging Kiwi wine industry, Cloudy Bay.

Kevin was at the helm for a quarter century during which time Cloudy Bay achieved something of an icon status. Greywacke, not surprisingly, is a quality focused winemaking venture that sources fruit from mature vineyards within the central Wairau Plains and the Southern Valleys. The story will sound familiar. Selected sites are cultivated using yield restricting vineyard management techniques and intense canopy management regimes to insure high quality, concentrated fruit. The wines are made at Dog Point Winery.

The first time we saw this a label was earlier this year and a recent batch of reviews on Greywacke wines from Wine Spectator (mainly on the Sauvignon Blancs…surprise there) made it seem the perfect time to introduce the label. This lineup is an impressive intro to a label we suspect is going to create a buzz. Greywacke was already mentioned in Lisa Perotti-Brown’s piece on New Zealand in Issue #197 of Wine Advocate as among “New Zealand’s most exciting emerging stars." As you might expect, quantities are pretty modest. Good hunting.