2016 Marlborough Chardonnay, Greywacke Archive Release

• Style: Textured, dry, mineral-driven
• Taste: Stone fruit, citrus rind, toasted almond, vanilla
• Food: Shellfish, roasted chicken, creamy cheeses, white fish
• Occasion: Date night, gifting, aperitivo
• Serve: 8–10°C, now through 2026

In the Glass — Tasting Notes

Ripe stone fruit and citrus rind unfold on the nose, layered over toasted almond and vanilla warmth from 18 months in French oak. The palate stays bone-dry and grounded, a tribute to Marlborough's diurnal temperature swings and the winemaker's restraint. This is a wine built for the table, not a fruit-forward confection.

The Winery — Greywacke

Kevin Judd, who spent 25 years as chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay, established Greywacke in 2009 on a Rapaura vineyard scattered with greywacke river stones—sedimentary rocks that mirror the wine's stony minerality. The fruit comes from low-yielding Mendoza clone plantings across Marlborough's gravelly soils, hand-harvested at full ripeness and whole-bunch pressed with minimal contact time. Indigenous yeasts drove a slow fermentation extending many months; malolactic conversion and lees stirring added depth and texture. The 2016 vintage benefited from generous spring conditions followed by a drought and recovery cycle that yielded fruit of real concentration and balance. After 18 months in barrel, the wine bottled in late 2017 has developed generously.

At Your Table — Food Pairing & Serving

Serve alongside roasted chicken with brown butter, creamy cheeses, or simply shellfish with a squeeze of lemon. It has the substance to partner braised white-fish dishes too. One of the finest Chardonnay examples we've sourced, it sits confidently within our New Zealand selection. If you're exploring what this country can achieve with Burgundy's most noble white grape, start here. Perfect for date night, gifting, or as an elegant aperitivo.