Careful Attention in the Vineyard Leads to Best Organic Wine at 2021 MWS

The 2021 Marlborough Wine Show’s Best Organic Wine was the result of hard graft at Giesen Group’s Clayvin Vineyard; each vine tended by hand.

Giesen Chief Winemaker Duncan Shouler says winning the Vit Management Ltd Best Organic Wine trophy for their Giesen Single Vineyard Clayvin Pinot Noir 2017 was fantastic for the company.

“For me, it’s a great reward for the hard work we have put into the vineyard itself. Growing Marlborough Pinot Noir on a high density organic site is not easy, and the quality is really dependent on the dedication and hard work of the team on the ground, who literally tend to all of the 5,500 vines per hectare by hand,” he says.

“I’d like to make a special mention of Marg Cullis, who worked as a vineyard supervisor on Clayvin Vineyard and was hugely influential on the quality of the 2017 Pinot Noir. Sadly, Marg passed away in 2018 but her stamp on Clayvin Vineyard and its wines will forever be there.”

What makes the Single Vineyard Clayvin Pinot Noir 2017 special is that it shows great expression of the vineyard itself, Duncan says.

“Organic winegrowing really helps to allow us to express the vineyard in the fruit and through the wine,” he says.

“We also use a traditional Pied de Cuve process where we ferment the Clayvin Pinot Noir with wild yeast isolated from the vineyard itself. That way, the natural microflora from the vineyard are also having an input into the site expression in the wine.”

Vit Management director Callum Linklater says sponsoring the Marlborough Wine Show is important to their company for many reasons.

He and his co-director, Stu Dudley were both on the board of Wine Marlborough when it took ownership of the show in 2017.

“We felt a bit of a connection there, and the show is just a perfect way of celebrating our Marlborough success, really,” Callum says.

They are particularly happy to be involved by sponsoring the Champion Organic Wine trophy.

“A third of our business at Vit Management is with organic clients so it makes up a really important part of our business, and a part of our business that we really enjoy working in,” he says.