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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Drinking window: Drink between 2016 and 2021 (based on 5 user opinions) |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 88.5 pts. and median of 88 pts. in 3 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by finewinebuff57 on 8/27/2019 & rated 87 points: I agree with Duncan's October 18 tasting note. There is obvious technique here, but this remains pretty austere and to be honest I question the terroir. At a similar price eclipsed by a 2014 Bruno Clair Marsannay drunk a couple of days ago (see separate note). (282 views) | | | Tasted by Duncan on 10/13/2018 & rated 90 points: Pale straw. Fairly muted nose - citrus, and a faint smokiness. On the palate it opens out, but remaining fairly linear and mineral. Sweet fruit comes though on the medium-long finish. It's a serious wine, and a pure wine, but I have to admit I am disappointed that it doesn't bring me more joy. 14%, cork. (317 views) | | | Tasted by HowardNZ on 8/4/2015: I've drunk this very good NZ Chardonnay twice. I'll start with what it's not. It's not overly oaked, too far tropical fruit or too herbaceous, or unbalanced in any way. Pale colour. A subtle bouquet of citrus, pear, lemon custard and gentle baking spices. Elegant and well balanced and proportioned on palate. Attractive bright acidity. Subtle oak oak handling. Good focus. Flavours of lemons, pears, rocky minerals and a little steel. The acids provide a strong backbone to this wine and good line and length. Drink in the next 8 years or so. (976 views) |
| Fromm Producer WebsiteChardonnay The Chardonnay GrapeClayvin VineyardArticle by Jamie Goode 4 Jan 2018
The third stop was Clayvin, one of the regions most famous vineyards. This was the first close-planted, hillside vineyard in Marlborough and was established in 1991 by Mike Eaton, who’d spent time in Burgundy. He came back and found this land at the end of the Brancott Valley, and purchased it very cheaply off the Hille family. Mike planted the vineyard mostly with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on a shoestring budget, with ungrafted vines. However, phylloxera struck in 1994, which is also the year the first wines were made from the vineyard. This meant it had to be replanted, and the financial stress this caused meant that in the end Mike had to sell to George Fromm and Lay & Wheeler (UK wine merchant) in 1999. George sold his interest and moved back to Switzerland around 2010, and with the vineyard managed by absentee owners, it wasn’t in the best of shape. In 2011/12 Giesen made Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah from here. ‘We got interested in the vineyard and could see the potential,’ says Marcel. ‘It had always been talked about, but the wines were often tight and needed time to open out. There are some distinct characters on this site: you can pick quite early because the fruit doesn’t need high brix to shine, the pH in the must is low, and the tannins have a nice quality to them.’
But with a change of ownership in 2014 things got a bit rocky. The irrigation system was a mess and the vines weren’t performing to their potential. So in 2014 Giesen signed a lease to manage the vineyard for 10 years, and brought in biodynamic expert Kurt Simcic to help get things back in balance. ‘Now it’s better managed there’s a much nice shape to the tannins,’ says Marcel. ‘They aren’t stress related.’ In 2015 Giesen had the opportunity to buy the vineyard, which they did. ‘When we took over the weeds were right in the fruiting zone, and there was no undervine weeding equipment.’ Now they have a Geier crawler, which is a narrow tractor with caterpillar tracks that weighs just 1.1. tons (versus 2.5 tons for their previous tractor), and which exerts a downward pressure of just 60 kg, avoiding compaction.New Zealand New Zealand Wine (New Zealand Winegrowers)South Island Noeth Island (wine-pages.com)Marlborough Gisborne (New Zealand Wine)Marlborough .co.nz/home.htm Gisborne |
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