Author: Dr. Gerald Atkinson

Company director, viticulturist, grapevine researcher and historian, and sometime wine-writer.

Greywacke (Marlborough) Wild Sauvignon 2013

Date tasted: 28th – 29th October 2015

Colour and condition: (Under Stelvin seal.) Pale lemon gold with slight platinum highlights. 3

Aroma: Moderate aroma, with appealing complexity. Reminiscent of Loire Chenin with its ‘wet wool’ / lanolin, but with a distinguishing overtone of (just at first) Gravenstein apple, then dominant crystalised kiwifruit markedly complexed by nashi pear, under-ripe rock melon, and, in particular, reductive smoky notes (including cigarette lighter flint smoke), with privet hedge undertones brooding right into the background.… Read more

‘Hermitage’ in New Zealand: the Origins and Development of the Te Kauwhata ‘Hermitage’ Syrah

‘Hermitage’ in New Zealand: the Origins and Development of the Te Kauwhata ‘Hermitage’ Syrah Line

In-brief research paper originally published in the Stonecroft newsletter, 2016

Revised and extended in August 2020 for publication in the GRAD® website.

Copyright (©) Gerald Atkinson, 2020


The author may be contacted by e-mail at: grapevines@hotmail.co.nz… Read more

Forthcoming Web-Pages for New (or Pending) Releases of GRAD Wine Grapes

Full catalogue web-pages for the following new and / or pending GRAD® wine grape releases will be published in due course:

  • GRAD® 1 Cinsaut
  • GRAD® 1 Gewürztraminer
  • GRAD® ‘Thomas’ clone Chenin blanc
  • GRAD® Pinot noir précoce clones
  • GRAD® ‘Berrysmith’ Pinot blanc clones
  • GRAD® ‘Berrysmith Original’ Pinot gris clone
  • GRAD® ‘Mission’ and ‘Bragato’ Heritage Pinot Meunier noir clones
  • GRAD® 1 Carmenere
  • GRAD® 2 Zweigelt

INTERIM  DETAILS:

GRAD® 1 Cinsaut (available for grafting this season): Having briefly described the GRAD® Grenache, above, it seems pertinent to proceed straight on to the GRAD® 1 Cinsaut.… Read more

GRAD® Macarthur Cabernet Sauvignon Clones 1 & 2

GRAD® Macarthur Cabernet Sauvignon Clones 1 & 2, in brief:

  • Two high-health, D.N.A.-identified, clones derived from the old pre-phylloxera Te Kauwhata Cabernet Sauvignon genetic line.
  • Both GRAD® Macarthur Cabernet Sauvignon clones were developed in the GRAD® r&d nursery by regeneration and re-selection of material from remnant experimental double-heat-treated old Te Kauwhata vines: first heat-treated in the later 1960s by D.S.I.R;
… Read more

GRAD®Italia Clone (Tissue-Cultured High Health)

GRAD® Italia clone, tissue-cultured, high-health

Details of this GRAD® table grape line are currently being written and edited for this webpage. Final DNA identification and follow-up virus testing of the GRAD® foundation vine are also currently awaiting completion. All going to plan, this page will be launched in due course in 2020 and approximately 100 buds will be available for grafting this year from the foundation vine of this tissue-cultured GRAD® Italia clone.… Read more

GRAD® 41B Rootstock

I would particularly draw attention to the fact that long moderately warm Hawkes Bay autumn conditions should see 41B prove to be an outstanding rootstock to use for Sauvignon blanc (and / or Semillon) in this region's limestone soils, as it will allow extended fruit ripening without inducing fast decline in fruit acidity.

GRAD® Clone 1 & 2 Kasza Chardonnay

This exceptionally fine Chardonnay genetic line is a regenerated high health version of the old Te Kauwhata 'Pinot Chardonnay' used by Dennis Kasza to make the legendary McWilliams 1960s Chardonnays. It is distinguished by its combining finesse with good depth of richness and flavour. It is hugely superior to Mendoza, and U.C.D. 4, 5, or 6, and also shows more classical (Meursault-like) intensity to its fruit character than many of the recent French clones where understatement and elegance rather than depth and richness seem to have been favoured.