Vintage conditions

2021 was a gently warm and dry year for Waipara although harvesting under Covid restrictions made life tricky. Luckily the autumn meant the fruit was pristine and fully ripened. The vines found balance driving deep into the soil to find water. Sauvignon canopies remained healthy and vibrant with shoot thinning done by the vineyard team to help open the canopy and allow sunlight and air flow. Leaf plucking helped ripen the skin phenolics and bring a crunchiness and tropical flavour with baking spices to the Loire clones. This organic fruit shows great resilience and a natural disease tolerance.

Vinification details

Once picked and in the winery the fruit is gently crushed and settled it to remove the heavy solids to get very clean fruit flavours in the wine. After crush grape juice is run to old French barriques for fermentation. This wild and barrel ferment means a lot more work for the winemaking team, having to top 100 barrels fortnightly to compensate for the angel’s share, check each one, and ensure all is well right throughout the ferment – a true labour of love. The small barrels allow the acidity to soften and exposes the wine to greater yeast lees- giving more creaminess on the palate. The wild natural ferment is slower and allows greater complexity of flavour and creamy malolactic ferment adds more texture on the finish.

Vintage conditions

2020 was a gently warm and dry year for Waipara although harvesting under Covid restrictions made life tricky. Luckily the autumn meant the fruit was pristine and fully ripened.

Vinification details

The fresh juice is settled after a gentle pressing and fermented in old French Oak barrels with wild yeast taking seven months to get through to dryness going through almost full MLF concurrently. This prolonged fermentation provides complexity and natural lees stirring adds texture and depth to the flavours. Blended and estate bottled without fining, just prior to the new harvest

Vintage conditions

The season started off cooler and wetter than normal, this delayed flowering but also meant irrigation wasn’t required until January. The vines found balance driving deep into the soil to find water. Sauvignon canopies remained healthy and vibrant with shoot thinning helping to open the canopy and allow sunlight and air flow. Leaf plucking helped ripen the skin phenolics and bring a crunchiness and tropical flavour with baking spices to the Loire clones. This organic fruit shows great resilience and a natural disease tolerance.

Vinification details

Fresh juice was settled after a gentle pressing. All Greystone’s Sauvignon is fermented in old French oak barrels with wild yeast, taking six months to get through to dryness which provides layers and complexity. The wine was allowed to go through 50% malolactic fermentation before it was racked out of barrels for blending. Estate bottled without fining.

Recipe idea

Greystone’s General Manager, Nik Mavromatis, has shared the following recipe as an ideal partner to their Organic Sauvignon Blanc:

Grilled vine leaf-wrapped salmon with rice-stuffed peppers and preserved lemon aioli

Serves 6 
2kg salmon, scaled and gutted
12 large fresh grapevine leaves, or use a jar of leaves
bunch of dill
bunch of parsley
olive oil
sea salt

Lemon aioli:
300g jar French aioli or if you’re fancy, homemade aioli
1 preserved lemon
1 tbsp dill, chopped

Method
Preheat barbecue or grill. Chop dill and parsley and rub all over fish with salt and olive oil. Wrap body in vine leaves so it won’t stick too much to the grill. Rub with a little olive oil (not too much, or it will catch fire). Place on a medium heat for 10 minutes then turn and repeat. Check the fish is cooked and serve (you’ll know it’s cooked when the fish comes straight off the bone!)

To make aioli: Remove the flesh and pith of your lemon with a knife, keeping only the skin. Finely dice the skin and mix it, along with the dill, into the jar of aioli.

Vintage conditions

The 2018 growing season was one of extremes, with records set for significant rainfall in October and February balanced out by extreme heat in December and January.

Vinification details

The grapes were picked in four lots. Three of the picks were settled in tank before racking to oak barrels, while the fourth pick, from our Loire vines, was transferred to oak barrels without settling. All barrels were fermented with wild yeast and aged on yeast lees for a further 7 months. Forty per cent of the wine went through full malolactic fermentation before blending and estate bottling without fining.