GREYWACKE CHARDONNAY 2022

Winery notes (2022 Vintage)
"Enticing aromas of brown sugar and vanilla custard entwine with a bright citrus note reminiscent of home-made lemon curd. The palate is layered with ripe golden peaches and caramelised figs, while being driven by a seam of flinty minerality. There is an earthy richness, evoking thoughts of freshly cut hay, roasted nuts and faint whiffs of wood smoke. A wine with hidden charms, tight structure and excellent ageing potential.

The vineyards were hand-picked separately at high ripeness levels and whole-bunch pressed using very low maceration press cycles. Some of the fruit was pressed directly to barrel, the balance was lightly settled and then racked to barrel. The juice went through a natural indigenous yeast fermentation in French oak barriques (20% new), with the final phase continuing for many months. The wine received occasional lees stirring and underwent a complete malolactic fermentation. It was transferred out of oak after 11 months and bottled in September 2023."

94/100 David Walker Bell, WineFolio.co.nz, May 2025 (2022 Vintage)
"A wine from Marlborough – mostly Mendoza clone, with the balance being Clone 95. A pale golden green in the glass. The perfume is bright and full, leading with a smoky struck-match note, over white peach, mandarin, lemon curd, almond, grapefruit, vanilla and lime flowers. The palate has a calmer, more elegant tone than the explosive nose might suggest. Well-balanced nutty oak, juicy acidity and a chalky minerality tells of well-crafted winemaking and hints at good ageability. Rich and generous at the finish, which is dry, spicy, and has good persistence."

93/100 Stephen Wong MW, The Real Review (2022 Vintage)
"Once the transient reduction lifts, this displays an expressive wine with ripe peach and marmalade flavours accompanied by a generous serving of cinnamon oak and ginger spice. The charming, mouth-filling flavours glide seamlessly across the mid-weight palate before grapefruit and vanilla come together on the creamy finish of white chocolate."

93/100 Angus Hughson, WinePilot.com, September 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"This highly individual 2022 Chardonnay is a ripe and punchy style that explodes out of the box with nectarine, peach skin and honeysuckle aromas with touches of frangipani intertwined with firm vanillin oak. Dry, full flavoured and with a firm backbone of vibrant acidity, it is firing on all cylinders but a little tight right now and needs time for all those elements to settle."

17/20 Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com (2022 Vintage)
"Sumptuously rich aroma, toasty, mealy and spicy, marked but not dominated by the oak. There's also ripe golden fruit and clementine. In the mouth, this is also relatively but not excessively oaky, generous, full bodied but with sufficient freshness for balance. Big, spicy mouth-filling Chardonnay, refined in its oaked style. Long finish and very moreish."

92/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, December 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"The 2022 Chardonnay is ripe and powerful, with intense fruit in the mouth, buttered popcorn characters and yellow peach. The acidity is as bright as the fruit is ripe, a characteristic of New Zealand Chardonnay that is both distinct and consistent. This is a little more obvious and fruit-driven than last year's iteration."

Joelle Thomson, drinksbiz Magazine August/September 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"Chardonnay is the world's most popular white wine and thrives everywhere it is grown in New Zealand – from Northland to Central Otago, and in Marlborough too, which is home to the impressive wine. The 2022 Greywacke Chardonnay was made byt the father-and-son team of Kevin and Alex Judd, who gently coaxed the best into each bottle of this full-bodied bone-dry wine from two outstanding clones (Mendoza and Clone 95). All grapes were handpicked and whole-bunch pressed then fermented with indigenous yeasts in French oak barriques (20% new) for 11 months. Occasional lees stiring adds depth and a creamy texture to this complex, nuanced wine, which drinks well now and will really come into its own in another five years."