Greywacke Wine Dinner – with the presence of Kevin Judd
Thursday 22nd February, 6:30pm, £75 per ticket. Book now.
Join us on the evening of Thursday 22nd February with an exclusive wine dinner with Greywacke winemakers. We will begin the evening at 6:30pm in our Library with a welcome and presentation by founder, Kevin Judd where we will then move into Parker’s Tavern restaurant for the wine dinner.
Our kitchen team have curated a menu of dishes to best compliment Greywacke’s white wines. Goat’s cheese, prunes and burned hazelnuts will accompany the Wild Sauvignon 2021, Galette and wild mushrooms with the Chardonnay 2021 and New Zealand lamb, shallots & blackberries with the Pinot Noir 2021. To finish the evening, apple tart tatin & bourbon vanilla ice cream with the Botrytis Pinot Gris 2018.
Greywacke, the story:
Greywacke (pronounced Greywacky) is the Marlborough label of the Judd family and the name of New Zealand’s most abundant bedrock. These understated grey river stones are found throughout Marlborough’s rivers and alluvial vineyard soils. Established in 2009, Greywacke is truly a family affair and while the company now exports its wines all over the world, the ethos is very much ‘keep it simple and hands-on’ with a small, dedicated team running the company from Greywacke HQ in the heart of Marlborough’s Omaka Valley. The fruit is sourced from mature vineyards in prime viticultural sites to optimise the potential afforded by Marlborough’s sunny South Pacific climate. All vineyards are sustainably managed with substantial and increasing proportions coming from organically farmed sites. Crop levels are restricted to enhance concentration of flavour and a long, cool growing season produces fruit with incredible varietal intensity and bright, natural acidity. Meticulous canopy management regimes are employed to provide sufficient fruit exposure to deliver ripeness of flavour, textural richness and optimum acid balance. Greywacke is accredited with AMW status (Appellation Marlborough Wine), ensuring provenance, authenticity and integrity. Each variety is grown and vinified using techniques aimed at achieving very specific wine styles, with a common objective of delivering concentration of flavour and a harmonious balance of texture and acidity. Minimal intervention winemaking is adopted to create wines with personality and individuality, aiming for subtle, ripe, delicious-drinking styles. Wild (indigenous) yeast fermentations are used extensively to incorporate savouriness to the flavour profile and build on the structure and intensity of mouthfeel.
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The Greywacke range is primarily based on two varieties, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir; the sauvignon being produced in two distinctly different styles. Limited releases of chardonnay, riesling and pinot gris complement the line-up. Kevin’s signature vineyard photographs provide the distinctive identity of the Greywacke labels.
Kevin Judd:
Kevin Judd is one of Marlborough’s pioneer winemakers whose career is intrinsically linked with the global profile of New Zealand wine. Kevin was born in England and grew up in Australia, where he studied winemaking at Roseworthy College and first made wine at Reynella in South Australia.
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He moved to New Zealand in 1983 and joined Selaks Wines. Subsequently, he became the founding winemaker at Cloudy Bay, a pivotal role during which he directed the company’s first 25 vintages. In 2009, he established Greywacke, his own family wine company, named after New Zealand’s prolific bedrock.
Alongside winemaking, Kevin has developed a parallel career in photography. For over two decades, his evocative images have appeared in countless publications worldwide. His first book was the The Colour of Wine, a photographic essay on the vineyards of Marlborough. His second book, The Landscape of New Zealand Wine, was published in 2009 to considerable acclaim.
Kevin and Kimberley live in the Omaka Valley overlooking Marlborough’s picturesque vineyards, the inspiration for both his passions.
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Greywacke – the name:
New Zealand does not have a designated national rock, but if one was ever chosen, it would have to be greywacke. This drab grey stone is found everywhere in New Zealand – on the mountains, in the rivers, on the beaches. It consists of layers of hard, muddy grey sandstone alternating with thinner layers of darker mudstone (argillite). Technically, the term greywacke refers to the sandstone (wacke is a German name for a type of sandstone), but it is also used as a general term for the entire rock. Greywacke (Grauwacke) was first used in the 18th century to describe rocks in the Harz Mountains of Germany. Ernest Dieffenbach, a German scientist who travelled widely in New Zealand between 1839 and 1841, was the first person to use it for local rocks. English geologists regarded greywacke as an uncouth foreign term, but it was adopted in Scotland. Archibald Geikie’s Text-book of Geology, published in 1903, gave descriptions of greywacke, and helped persuade New Zealanders that it was an appropriate term for their most widespread rock. In the 1960s, some geologists argued that the term greywacke was vague and imprecise. A subcommittee of the Geological Society recommended that it be dropped, but this was widely ignored. The term is possibly used more widely in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world.
Tickets are available to book here or by calling 01223 606266.
