Churton Natural State Pied De Cuve 2022

Churton is a 50 hectare farm in the southern hills of Marlborough, about half of which is now under vine. Sam and Mandy Weaver are Churton’s founders, and long before it was fashionable, they approached the farm and the vineyard with strong ecological values. The vineyard has been organic since the beginning in 1997, and is managed with biodynamic principles.

They produce hand-harvested Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir as well as small quantities of Viognier and Petit Manseng. They focus on these four grape varieties, as they believe they are best suited to the undulating hillside vineyard with its north-east aspect, clay soils and specific microclimate.

Their wine making is based on minimal intervention, and patience. All wines undergo a slow, natural fermentation before resting on lees and spending time in bottle.

Sauvignon Blanc grapes were from Churton’s Loin block, at the centre of the vineyard. The fruit from Loin is low yielding and early ripening with great retention in acidity and concentration. The ‘starter’ was selectively picked, and left to start to ferment naturally in the vineyard, to be used to inoculate the main fermentation. The ‘pied de cuve’ fruit was hand-picked, whole bunch pressed and left to ferment in old 500l puncheons along with the starter. The wine was then left on its lees for 9-12 months and racked before bottling with no fining nor filtering.