It was not my intent to buy Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc when I went to Costco last weekend. Nor was it my intent to buy Warre’s 2017 Vintage Port. Or 2021 Produttori del Barbaresco. But as it happens, all of these wines were sitting under the shining fluorescent lights right in front of the toilet paper. $17.99. $58.99. $39.99.
I stood there slack-jawed as people muttered and pushed around me – blatantly unaware of the treasure trove in front of them.
I couldn’t resist. I stashed the port and Barbaresco – they’ll be better in a few years. But the Greywacke was gone within 24 hours. My partner and I drank it while eating lomi lomi salmon, listening to Elvis’s Blue Hawaii album and pretending it is not the middle of winter. A second bottle – which Greywacke sent me for the Mission Blind Tasting series to be tasted alongside other classic Sauvignon Blancs (coming soon!) – nearly went the way of the dodo.
From the pale greenish-lemon colour to the lime zest, grapefruit flesh, gooseberry and curry-leaf aromas to the high, taut acidity and 13% alcohol, the 2025 Greywacke does everything a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is supposed to. And then it does more. An attractive pithiness. A light chewiness. A lengthy finish.
As Julia mentions in her 2014 write up of Greywacke’s chardonnay, Kevin Judd was the long-time head winemaker at Cloudy Bay, where he spent 25 years honing his craft before launching his label in 2009. These days, most winemaking operations are carried out by winemaker Richelle Tyney and Judd’s son, Alex. All wines that I’ve had the opportunity to taste have been excellent – but this one is by far the most classic. It’s like Judd took the prototype and improved it.
The Sauvignon Blanc for this wine is purchased from vineyards in Marlborough’s Wairau Valley (Appellation Marlborough Wine has an interactive map worth checking out). In the areas of Rapaura and Renick within the Central Wairau, these vineyards are planted into young alluvial soils covered in greywacke (a type of hard, grey sandstone). In the Southern Valleys, older, denser clay-loams dominate.
The fruit was machine-harvested at night over a three-week period concluding 24 March. Once harvested, the fruit was driven to Greywacke’s winery in Omaka Valley, where it was pressed and the juice was cold-settled and racked. It was then fermented at 16-18 °C in stainless-steel tanks using cultured yeasts. The wine was left on lees until it was blended, filtered and bottled in May.
A third of Greywacke’s Sauvignon Blanc is imported into the US by Total Beverage Solution. While Costco is selling the 2025 vintage for $17.99, the wine normally retails for around $21 – still a bargain for a wine this good. In the UK, this wine is imported by Liberty Wines; the 2025 vintage runs £23.94 from London End Wines.
The more widely available 2024 vintage was given a similarly stellar score from Julia. Greywacke’s distribution page says that this wine is available in Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Columbia, Turks and Caicos, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malasia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Maldives, South Africa, East Africa and the UAE.
Photo at top of Clouston Vineyard, Wairau Valley. All photos courtesy Greywacke.
Find the full tasting note for this wine and many more from Greywacke in our tasting-note database, or explore Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in all its diversity.
