Beyond the bay

It was my wife, Kimberly’s suggestion that they buy me a coffee machine when I left, which means that we make the best coffee in the district.”

Kevin Judd, former chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay in New Zealand and now the owner of Greywacke, was in Yorkshire a few weeks ago showing his wines and telling stories about the transition he has made from being part of one of the most famous wine companies in the world, to running his own small wine company.

I was in Marlborough last year but things have moved on even in 12 months. “We now have an office, which gives us somewhere to work out of, and somewhere to put the coffee machine. We did work out of the Dog Point office for a while, but it got a bit crowded.”

Dog Point, and the people who set it up, James Healy and Ivan Sutherland were important factors in helping Kevin decide to leave Cloudy Bay. Having been in at the start with David Hohnen who established the winery and label back in 1983, he had seen the company grow from a small operation to one that was part of one of the most prestigious multinational wine and luxury goods corporations in the world. Inevitably the large structure changed the way Cloudy Bay operated, but the quality of the wine stayed steady. There were still top notch, vibrant Sauvignons, an elegant oak-aged Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, even a sweet Riesling.

But in 2008, as New Zealand moved into an oversupply of grapes, and when Kevin just happened to be on a plane with Ivan Sutherland, who is a major grape grower in the region and with James Healy who had worked with Kevin at Cloudy Bay, he got the idea to set up on his own.

“Twenty five years with one company is a long time,” he said. He had already registered the name Greywacke several years before – “It was the name of a vineyard I used to own and it is the name of the sedimentary rock of the region which gives the wine much of its character.”

There was a short transition from corporate head winemaker at Cloudy Bay to one-man band, but now he works with a small group of people, many of whom used to be at the aforementioned CB. Dog Point and Greywacke seem to act as a kind of new life for escapees from the corporate world.

Grapes come from the same familiar vineyards where Kevin has sourced grapes before, but his limited production means that he can afford to be picky. Winemaking takes place at Dog Point, which is the kind of pared down winery where the equipment and barrels are top-notch, but it doesn’t have the visitor centre fripperies which some wineries seem to feel are essential.

Grapes for Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc are harvested at night by machine so they arrive ready chilled and full of fresh, bright flavours. Greywacke and Dog Point operate a kind of “hot-bedding” system so that the Greywacke wines are out of the press and into tank before the Dog Point grapes arrive later in the day.

Among Kevin’s many Yorkshire engagements he hosted a dinner at Brasserie Forty4 in Leeds where his wines were matched to a terrific menu. Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (about £16) was served as an aperitif and it worked well, applying zest and fruit to the tastebuds in equal measure. It is a fresh-tasting wine with notes of citrus and ripe nectarines among the blackcurrant leaf aromas and minerally crunch.

The 2010 Greywacke Chardonnay (about £24), made from free-run juice and barrel-fermented with wild yeast was paired with an oxtail and wild mushroom risotto and this held up well against the food, with notes of pink grapefruit balanced by a touch of spice and a flinty mineral finish.

Greywacke Riesling 2011 (about £18.50) accompanied a salmon and scallop tartare and its minimalist sweet note was counterbalanced by clear, clean lemon zest and again, a flinty crunch on the finish.

The smooth, dark cherry notes of Greywacke Pinot Noir 2012 (about £27) accompanied the lamb rump dish to perfection. This is made from grapes grown on a hillside vineyard planted with 12-year-old vines and there is a mix of Pinot Noir clones lending complexity from the start. Wild yeast fermentation in oak with hand plunging of the cap gives a wine with tremendous balance and concentration without losing the essential freshness and perfume of Marlborough.

A Late Harvest Riesling 2011 (about £21 for half bottle) full of peach, lime and honeyed flavours was a perfect match with a blueberry and almond tart.

On this occasion we didn’t taste the Wild Sauvignon 2011 (about £22), a wine that gets clean away from any brash herbaceous thoughts you may have about this grape. Complex and elegant, with notes of yellow peach and almonds it still retains a crunchy, citrus finish of pink grapefruit. If there had been room on the menu it would have been wonderful with turbot.

Greywacke wines have good distribution in Yorkshire with Roberts and Speight (01482 870717) coming top for both range and competitive pricing. Most independents including Field and Fawcett, Halifax Wine Company, The Wright Wine Company, Penistone, Martinez, Harrogate Fine Wine and Wrightson Wines have some of these excellent wines.

When you buy a bottle, check the labels which all feature photographs taken by Kevin in the days when he wasn’t running his own business. With two books and several exhibitions to his name, Kevin has set a new standard for vineyard photography and he was planning to take some photographs on the few spare days during his UK trip.

After five vintages into the Greywacke project perhaps it is time to stop linking Kevin’s name and his new wines back to Cloudy Bay. CB is still making good wine, but it is on a different scale and perhaps with a different passion than Greywacke has now.

The latter is definitely not a retirement project, it is a fresh start, with new enthusiasm and the freedom to follow quality.

There is no visitor centre at Greywacke and it may never have one, but if you find yourself in the area and can smell the coffee machine in action, then it is definitely worth a detour.