Wine: Seize the moment

2009 Greywacke Late Harvest Gewurztraminer, $36. Photo / Greg Bowker

The analogies between photography and winemaking may be obvious but that doesn't diminish the fact they are valid.

A great picture relies on composition, timing, structure, balance, light and a keen eye for detail ... and often a lucky break.

A great wine relies on similar attributes including instinctiveness - that characteristic that takes the wine from being a clinical industrial beast to something memorable. With photography and winemaking you can follow all the rules with utmost precision, but often it's the unexpected, the unplanned and spontaneous decisions that turn the mediocre into the marvellous.

We know it as seizing the moment.

At what point photographer and winemaker Kevin Judd chose to leave the secure comfort of Cloudy Bay and leap into the abyss of creating his own label is irrelevant - maybe he needed a new challenge.

With a couple of vintages under his belt, Judd has a portfolio based on the twin pillars of sauvignon blanc and pinot noir.

There are also limited edition releases of chardonnay, pinot gris, riesling and gewurztraminer.

The captivating labels are vineyard images designed to showcase the Greywacke identity. The name Greywacke is in recognition of the high prevalence of rounded greywacke river stones in the soils in the vineyard.

The wines are currently made by Judd at Dog Point Winery in the lower Brancott Valley, the current home of former Cloudy Bay colleagues Ivan Sutherland and James Healy.

Pinot noir, chardonnay and a wild sauvignon will be released early next year. In the meantime there are three exciting white wines worthy of attention. These are the high-profile pinot gris, riesling (which deserves more public attention than it currently receives) and a dessert wine based on the under-appreciated gewurztraminer.

Judd is something of a quiet achiever and his contribution to the New Zealand wine industry since arriving here in 1983 from Australia has been significant.

Greywacke (pronounced grey-wacky) refers to sandstone, but is also used as a general term for the entire rock. English geologists regarded greywacke as an "uncouth foreign term", but it was adopted in Scotland. Given the quality of these wines, New Zealand should be happy to adopt the term too.

RECOMMENDED

2009 Greywacke Pinot Gris, $29
An excellent debut with flavour and attitude. Smells of pears, apples, shortbread, caramel and a sprinkling of pistachio. It's full, ripe and rich.

2009 Greywacke Late Harvest Gewurztraminer, $36
Divine. A luscious and sweet dessert wine (375ml) that is not overwrought or leaden. Has aromas of lychee, mandarin, quince, rose and cinnamon. Elegant and clean with a lovely structure and most satisfying finish.