GIVE GRUNER A GO.
Jules explains what Gruner Veltliner (or "that other white wine") is all about.
FOOD MATCH
Gruner loves stong flavours and spice so try it with something like sticky pork belly bao buns with hoisin sauce and cucumber and spring onions. Or try prawn and chive dumplings with chilli oil and black vinegar.
Get recipeWINEMAKERS NOTES
Gruner Veltliner is a cool climate wine originally from Austria. Jules describes it as "the lovechild of Pinot Gris and Riesling!" One of the reasons that we’re making it is to stretch our wings, to see if there is life after Sauvignon Blanc. The initial results suggest that there might be.
AROMA & FLAVOUR
Ripe peach and orange blossom mingle with smoky spice and a subtle nutty, mineral underton on the nose. The palate is weighty and textural, with seductive juicy peach and persimmon flavours, accented by smoky spice from the wild fermented portion. Beautiful phenolic grip adds structure, while a freshening minerality makes the finish elegant and impressively long-lasting.
VINTAGE NOTES
Marlborough was blessed with another dry and generally warm growing season through 2024/25. Summer arrived early with warm, settled weather through late November and December. This was ideal for flowering across for all varieties, and led to a high potential yield across the region. A cooler January saw high yields become more obvious as berries developed, and growers worked hard to monitor and manage their crops, reducing them where necessary. The weather warmed up again in February, and ripening sped up once more with flavours developing well leading in to harvest. Picking began on the 25th of February. Interestingly early picks were close to the same dates last year. However, this season was more spread out and stable weather and nice clean fruit meant Jules was able to take her time, harvesting blocks as they reached their peak flavours.
VINIFICATION
Our Grüner Veltliner grapes were 100% hand-harvested from a small vineyard parcel in the Central Wairau sub-region of Marlborough. The fruit was whole bunch pressed and the free-run juice was cold settled over 48 hours and then fermented cool and slow in a stainless steel tank to retain the vibrant aromatics. The pressings portion was pressed directly into old French oak for a wild ferment followed by a full malolactic fermentation. Soon after fermentation the two components were blended together before being bottled and sealed with a screw cap to retain perfect freshness.
