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Greywacke and Pyramid Valley – vertical and horizontal

Julia Harding
Julia Harding MW
Monday 16 January 2023
Clouston Vineyard in the central Wairau Plains courtesy Kevin Judd

Two outstanding producers from New Zealand’s South Island show their wares in London. Above, the Clouston Vineyard in the central Wairau Plains, principal source for the Greywacke wines reviewed below (photo: Kevin Judd).

In October last year, separately but coincidentally, Greywacke’s Kevin and Kimberley Judd and Pyramid Valley’s Steve Smith MW returned to London after a long COVID-induced absence.

The Judds established their Greywacke label in Marlborough in 2009 after Judd had made his name as founding winemaker at Cloudy Bay, naming it after the grey river stones found throughout Marlborough and more generally in New Zealand. After the success...