New Giesen Uncharted Range Captures Unique Taste of Marlborough
Uncharted Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to offer the best flavours of New Zealand’s renowned wine region
Celebrated New Zealand winemaker, Giesen Group, is bringing an unmatched taste of Marlborough to New Zealand wine enthusiasts with its adventurous new Uncharted range, which pays tribute to the beautiful region in which it has been growing and making wine in for over three decades.
Giesen Uncharted Range
Featuring a crisp Sauvignon Blanc, sophisticated Chardonnay, and elegant Pinot Noir, the Uncharted range celebrates its homeland; a place between the snow and the sea, where mountain ranges give way to rivers, and sunshine reigns supreme. Each wine reflects the unique sub-region where it is grown within the Marlborough region, taking on the individual characters and flavours typical to that area.
Duncan Shouler, Giesen Group’s newly appointed Chief Winemaker, is passionate about capturing wine that tells the story of vintage, its variety and the place it was grown, and notes the Uncharted range as an exceptional example of this approach to winemaking.
“Marlborough has a distinctive wine style and unique taste experience that can only come from this particular place, and we wanted to truly capture and elevate this in our Uncharted wines,” says Duncan Shouler.
Giesen Uncharted Sauvignon Blanc
The Uncharted Sauvignon Blanc fruit comes from two blocks in the Awatere Valley, a slightly cooler, drier and windier location with higher elevation. Each block displayed exceptional Awatere characters, with one more tropical with green pineapple flavours, and the other quite herbal – with the marriage between the two locations resulting in a wonderfully aromatic, delicate Sauvignon Blanc with satisfying mouthfeel, notes of fresh herbs, green pineapple and kaffir lime, and subtle salt air characters.
Giesen Uncharted Pinot Noir
Marlborough’s Southern Valleys are renowned for growing Pinot Noir with great colour, excellent texture and ripeness, with the Uncharted Pinot Noir no exception. Warm fermentation and minimal handling retains colour and allows the fruit to showcase distinct Marlborough Pinot Noir character. The resulting wine offers aromas of dark cherry and bramble, with sweet spice and subtle toasty notes. On the palate, enjoy flavours of cherry compote, mocha and clove, with earthy smokey notes from careful barrel aging in French oak hogsheads.
Giesen Uncharted Chardonnay
The Chardonnay of the Uncharted range uses only selected parcels of hand-picked fruit from the Wairau and Southern Valleys, which is picked early to ensure the natural tartness Marlborough is known for. The wine is an excellent showcase of a cool-climate Marlborough Chardonnay, offering complex aromas of white peach, lemon, toasted hazelnut, and flint on the nose, along with ripe lemon and peach flavours, and grapefruit on the finish.
The parcels of fruit used for each Uncharted wine are carefully selected for their heavier soils, which is key for showcasing a more defined and intense subregional flavour profile; and are often handpicked to ensure the fruit is of the highest quality.
“Each Uncharted wine is a stunning representation of the pocket in which the grapes are grown,” says Shouler. “Marlborough is renowned worldwide for its quality, delicious wines, and it’s important that we continue to uphold and extend this reputation. We think the Uncharted range does just that.”
The Uncharted wines come in a bottle as beautiful as the wine itself, which evokes the natural rugged beauty of Marlborough and features soon-to-be-announced refreshed branding, including an updated Giesen crest.
“With our range of wines growing and changing, we think the time is right to take the heritage and quality signified by our existing crest and give it an update. We’ve updated our style, while staying true to our legacy – sharing in more than three decades of passion and craft,” says Alex Giesen, Giesen brother and Giesen Group co-owner.
“We recently conducted research that found that wine drinkers look for region of origin as a key consideration when choosing their wine, and strongly value a story of provenance and sense of place. The Uncharted label visually represents Marlborough, which we hope signifies the subsequent quality of the wine that people associate with this region.”
Alex hopes the Uncharted range will offer wine enthusiasts a genuine taste of Marlborough to enjoy with family and friends.
“We exist to help our friends and family enjoy life’s fruitful moments – those shared experiences with our nearest and dearest that become some of our fondest memories.”
“These generous wines are a cut above and our team are in love already. We cannot wait to share these delicious newcomers with Kiwis,” says Giesen.
The Giesen Uncharted range is available now, RRP $19.99 – $29.99 from www.giesen.co.nz/uncharted, as well as leading liquor retailers.