19-Aug-2013
Hawksdrift is the brand of Murray and Robyn Butt who pioneered grapegrowing on Morgans Road in the Dillons Point district of the lower Wairau in Marlborough. Planting in 1998, the Butts entered into contracting growing for high profile producers with approximately 9 ha of vines, and continue to do so today for the likes of Saint Clair. The vineyard has around 4 ha of Sauvignon Blanc, over 2.5 ha of Pinot Noir and around 2 ha of Chardonnay and is viticulture is overseen personally by Murray. Working with enthusiastic winemaker David Tyney (www.davidtyney.com), the Butt family decided to make small quantities of distinctive and complex Marlborough wine "outside the square” from selected, hand-picked parcels from their vineyard, beginning with the 2011 vintage. The ‘Hawksdrift’ name was chosen referring to the power, quality, grace and finesse of flight of the hawk, these attributes being sought in the wines. The first commercial releases are the 2011 wines, and I review these and the new 2012 whites. The quantities available range from approx. 50 dozen to 250 dozen only. www.hawksdriftwines.co.nz