Matthews Lane Vineyard
Wairau Valley
Our Matthews Lane vineyard is in the heart of the Wairau Valley in Marlborough. Made up of two vineyards Hunter and Aitkens, premium Sauvignon Blanc is farmed on both. Read more
The Fuder
Matthews Lane
Sauvignon Blanc
An aromatic, punchy Sauvignon Blanc showcasing our Matthews Lane vineyard in the Wairau Valley, aged on lees in 1,000L German Fuder barrels.
The journey of each Single Vineyard wine starts in a Marlborough vineyard selected for its unique terroir and climate. They are then nurtured with meticulous hands-on viticulture to ensure fruit produces highly concentrated flavour. Our winemaking expertise then allows these wines to speak for themselves, their purity becoming a showcase of the land.
Located in the heart of Marlborough’s acclaimed Wairau Valley our Matthews Lane vineyard produces fruit with intensity and purity. There is a lot of variation throughout the Matthews Lane vineyard, producing characteristics of citrus and lime through to fleshy stonefruit, pineapple through to intense gooseberry.
The vineyard is 3.8km to the Wairau river and 12km from the coast. The soil is light free draining.
We have supplied over one million vine cuttings to nurseries in Marlborough from this vineyard, so it could be said that many of the region’s vines have originated from our Matthews Lane vineyard.
Single Vineyard Selection
A selection of wines which speak of the special place they come from, crafted from single vineyards with unique terroir and climate. Our winemakers ensure the purity of the wine becomes a showcase of the land.
Vineyard
Wairau Valley - Matthews Lane Vineyard
Winemaking
We hand pick the fruit from Matthews Lane vineyard ensuring each parcel of fruit is in pristine condition.
After a yeast starter the juice rests on yeast lees for 11 months in new 1,000L German Oak Fuder Barrels.
The use of Fuder barrels in this way ensures our Single Vineyard white wines develop a greater complexity and refinement because oak doesn’t dominate.
The ratio of wine in contact with the barrel surface is less than smaller barrels so oak pick up is less. The staves of Fuder barrels are thicker which means the temperature of ferment tends to be warmer and we find the fruit characters gain greater depth and complexity.
Awards
2016
2016
2015
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2015
2015
2015
2015
2014
2014
2014
2014
2012
2012
2012
2012
2012
Duncan Shouler
Director of Innovation
Duncan has always loved science and the outdoors. Winemaking in Marlborough allows him to enjoy his two passions every day. Read more
Reviews
"An excellent vintage and bottle age delivers a bouquet of toasty complexity and integration whilst holding onto the core varietal character and flavours of citrus peel and herbs, preserved peaches and sweet hay. Acidity remains vibrant carrying flavours of orchard fruits, hay, dried herbs and minerality. Well-made and ready to enjoy from today and through 2024.
2014 Vintage, Reviewed February 2021.
Featured in The Shout - Spectacular Sauvignon Blancs over $25."
93
Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier
"2014 Vintage: Over one million cuttings from the Matthews Lane Vineyard have been supplied to nurseries—and therefore wineries—around Marlborough, so in theory, there's a small piece of it in many of the wines from the region. It's special, then, to taste Giesen's single-vineyard version, aged in 1000 liter German fuders. Trademark regional characters of jalepeño, green beans and grass marry with lemon balm, pressed yellow flowers and butter, all ensconced in an oily texture, slippery acidity and a grassy finish. March 2018"
91
Wine Enthusiast Magazine
"2014 Vintage: This might turn you towards savvies. It's out there. Touch of leesy gunmetal character on the nose. Gets a lot of wild yeast character and the combination of the oak and the natural fruit intensity takes the aromatic complexity to another zone. An intense wine with a creamy texture and lifted notes of thyme and sweet fruit. Best drinking now to 2020."
93
Ray Jordan - Australian Wine Writer
"2013 Vintage: Fuder is German for a large wooden vessel, used in this case for the fermentation and aging of wine. Hints of struck-match complexity mark the nose, giving way to notes of grilled nectarine. The wine is full and rich in the mouth, with a mouthwatering finish that marries stone fruit and pink grapefruit into a stunning finale. March 2018"
93
Joe Czerwinski - Wine Enthusiast Magazine
"2012 Vintage: From the central Wairau Valley, the grapes were hand harvested and fermented in Fuder barrels, then aged on lees for 11 months. Powerful and complex, the bouquet shows stone fruit, feijoa, mango and toasted almond characters with an elegant herbal edge. The palate delivers succulent fruit flavours and rich mouthfeel, wonderfully supported by juicy acidity. At its best: now to 2020. "
95
Sam Kim - Wine Orbit
"2012 Vintage: The Fuder is a new and very welcome premium label from the well-known sauvignon blanc producer, Giesen. Fermented in a 1000-litre German oak fuder, the wine is given extended contact with yeast lees to build texture. It has a deliciously creamy mouthfeel with nutty yeast lees characters adding complexity to ripe nectarine, peach and other stone-fruit flavours. A satisfying sauvignon blanc in a very appealing style"
97
Gourmet Traveller Wine
"2012 Vintage: Fermented and matured in new German oak fuders, this is a fleshy, weighty wine with strong, ripe, tropical fruit flavours, showing a toasty, smoky, oak-derived complexity, and a dry, finely textured finish."
Winestate
"Good bright green-tinged yellow. Slightly vegetal aromas of stone fruits, spices and horseradish are complicated by a musky leesy quality; suggests an underripe/overripe character. Then fat and rich in the mouth, displaying an almost chardonnay-like weight to its yellow peach, lemon candy, pepper and spice flavors. Dust the palate with material on the pliant, rich finish. A distinctly idiosyncratic sauvignon but definately a mouthful of wine."
Steve Tanzer - US Wine Critic
