Marlborough’s Clayridge vineyards was established by colourful winemaker Mike Just and his wife Paula. Mike is a direct descendant of King Edward III, wears a black eye patch and his dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. He also has a penchant for medieval sword fighting, and has chosen Edward III’s family crest as the brand to represent his Clayridge wines.
Mike and Paula planted their own Clayridge vineyard on the steepest slopes in Marlborough, plus they source premium grapes from Taylor Pass valley and the Wither Hills.
But when it comes time to pick the grapes, Mike makes use of the facilities at Marlborough’s Indevin contract winemaking company, which was established in 2004, and has a capacity to process over 8,500 tonnes of grapes a year. Indevin provides a full range of services to the winemaker, from pre-harvest grape analysis, to crushing, de-stemming and pressing, oak barrel ferments and ageing, to temperature controlled fermentation tanks, and final laboratory work prior to bottling.
Anyway - last night we nipped out for tapas at a local restaurant and I spotted the Clayridge Pinot Blanc 2008 on the wine list. I haven't tried Clayridge wines for ages - the last time was at a wine trade show about 3 years ago. Pinot Blanc is a distant relative of Pinot Noir - AKA Pinot Bianco in Italy. This example is a gloriously lushly flavoursome fruity wine with earthy hints. Oily and mouth-filling, there are flavours of lime, quince, honeysuckle and minerals. Fab. Me want more.
Phil runs wine tours in Auckland New Zealand
Yes - in NZ, being a young New World producer, we invariably put the grape variety on the label. Some regions are pretty well synonymous with some variteles e.g. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.
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