Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/780573
{ SOMMjournal.com } 97 PHOTO: MICHAEL MORSE PHOTO: COURTESY OF GIESEN ESTATE Nikolai St. George is Chief Winemaker for Giesen Estate. New Zealand Although winemaker Nikolai St. George's career has taken him around the world—Chile, France, Australia and the U.S.—he was ultimately drawn to New Zealand's Giesen Estate because of the potential he saw. "While the winery has achieved so much over the past 30 years, it still feels like it's on the cusp of something great," notes St. George, now Giesen Estate's Chief Winemaker. "We have amazing viticultural resources, such as Marlborough's first hillside vineyard, the prized organic Clayvin." St. George further explains that unlike Australia, which lies a thousand miles to the northwest, New Zealand's two long main islands don't register as a land mass. "Our weather, which comes from the Antarctic, keeps moving through instead of stopping. That makes grape growing very difficult. Every day is a new day and every vintage different. We need to be able to make decisions quickly." Marlborough is nestled on the northeast corner of the South Island in a large rain shadow created by the Southern Alps. Its maritime climate is cold at night and warm during the summer days—that is, very diurnal—which helps lock in flavors. The diverse soils are a result of the juncture of two tectonic plates, which unfortunately left part of the country in disarray with two recent devastating earthquakes—last November, 800 earthquakes occurred within a week. Giesen Estate's Clayvin Vineyard is a celebrated and unique site, located on the hillsides of Marlborough, protected from the region's southerly weather pattern and allowing for more even growing seasons. "Clayvin is the oldest organically-run vineyard in the region," offers St. George, "and the high-density plantings, help - ing to produce wines of great concentration and richness, force us to use small tr actors and equipment that fit through the rows. The vines are all hand-tended." The vineyard was so admired, the Giesen family arranged a long-term lease for the property in 2012. Giesen 2013 The Fuder Chardonnay, Clayvin Vineyard displays a core of grapefruit with decisive, focused minerality and sublime stone fruit. The regime includes wild fermentation and aging in large-format German barrels called "fuders." Giesen Estate 2013 Pinot Noir, Clayvin Vineyard exhibits a combination of blue fruit, cedar and earth: lush and mouth-filling. Region: Marlborough Wine: Giesen 2013 The Fuder Chardonnay, Clayvin Vineyard, Wairau Valley Wine: Giesen 2013 Pinot Noir, Clayvin Vineyard, Wairau Valley.