Created to capture the essence of Marlborough – the range features Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as a snapshot of this unique region, in which Giesen has now been growing and making wine for over three decades.
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.
“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 Sauvignon Blanc fruit comes from two blocks in the Awatere Valley, a slightly cooler, drier and windier location with higher elevation.
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 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 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.”
