Clayvin vineyard is considered as a new world grand cru site, consistently scoring excellently from critics around the world and there is an explanation.
Clayvin Vineyard, located in the Southern Valleys, North facing slope, first commercial hillside vineyard in Marlborough, established in 1991 by the Eaton family. Full vineyard site is 13.4 ha, primarily planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and a few parcels of Syrah. Currently under Giesen's careful custodianship and fully certified organic with BioGro NZ.
High clay content soils, claypans throughout the vineyard, formed from ancient glaciers, some of the oldest soils in Marlborough. Clay soils have high water retention quality, strong root systems, enables roots to push down making vines less reliant on irrigation.
The vineyard planting is high density with 5,500 vines per hectare, compared with the typical Marlborough planting of 2,000-2,500 vines per hectare. The high-density planting creates natural competition among the vines, reducing vigour, producing concentrated clusters of berries, promoting root structure and intensity of flavour. In a real sense, it means "one bottle of Clayvin wine per vine".
The vines put their energy into survival rather than vegetative growth. Furthermore, they have to push their roots down through the soil for nutrients, which in turn controls vigour with more of the vine’s energy going into fruiting rather than leaf growth. The claypans have rich iron and magnesium which contributed to the great structure of the final wine.
The vines are now 30 years of age, with deep root systems, resulting in low yields, great concentration and richness, showing a strong sense of place.
Here, I reviewed the current release of Giesen Clayvin Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
