Giesen Chardonnay Shines at Marlborough Wine Show

Giesen Chardonnay Shines at Marlborough Wine Show

Image: Richard Briggs Photography

A drive to produce fantastic Marlborough Chardonnay has been recognised at the 2022 Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect.

Giesen Wines received two trophies for their Single Vineyard Clayvin Chardonnay 2018: the MRC Champion Chardonnay, 2019 and Older, as well as the Vit Management Ltd Best Organic Wine of the Show.

To pick up the title of Champion Chardonnay with their 2018 vintage was a humbling experience, says Giesen Group Director of Winemaking Duncan Shouler.

“Chardonnay is a fantastic variety in Marlborough. The best wines have a superb balance between fruit intensity, driving acidity and complex richness. They are going from strength to strength in the region, so to win a trophy amongst such great company is fantastic,” he says.

Giesen has had several successes with Chardonnay over the years, indicating their work to perfect the variety is paying off, Duncan says.

“We love growing and making it. In a good wine region, it’s not necessarily hard to make good Chardonnay, but it's very hard to make great Chardonnay. That’s what we strive for with our Clayvin wine, and the viticulture and winemaking teams love the challenge.”

Part of what makes the Giesen Clayvin Chardonnay 2018 special is its origins at Clayvin Vineyard, situated in Marlborough’s Southern Valleys.

“It’s a stunning site, with high intensity planted vines that compete with each other, resulting in low yields of highly concentrated fruit. At the winery, we inoculate the free run juice with a Pied de Cuve, a propagation of yeast that exists naturally at the Clayvin site. That gives the wine further complexity, and I believe it’s another way of truly expressing the site itself in the finished wine,” Duncan says.

The Marlborough Research Centre sponsors two Chardonnay trophies at the Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect, including the MRC Champion Chardonnay, 2019 and Older.

MRC Chief Executive Gerald Hope says sponsoring the trophies is an opportunity for the New Zealand Wine Centre to celebrate a great variety that is locally grown.

“We understand and appreciate what it takes to make award winning wine. Marlborough has proven itself vintage after vintage to be a quality grape grower and has mastered the art of winemaking by creating both traditional and modern styles of chardonnay.  This year the respective winemakers expressed what can be produced in the vineyard matched by careful handling in the winery,” he says.

“Marlborough grown Chardonnay is a stellar grape and more than matches other great wines produced in Marlborough.”

Giesen also took home a third trophy for a Clayvin wine at the 2022 Show, picking up the Wine Marlborough Champion Other Red Wine with the Giesen Single Vineyard Clayvin Syrah 2021.