Life’s a Picnic – with Mud House New Release Wines

Fresh green grass, beautiful shards of summer sunlight, birdsong aplenty and your favourite rug spread out – life’s a picnic with Mud House new release wines!

The new 2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio and 2010 Mud House South Island Pinot Gris are the epitome of summer – and with their distinctive styles you’re sure to find a match made in heaven for your perfect summer tipple.

With a unique style and zesty, fresh flavours, the 2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio is a true “Kiwi” Pinot Grigio that also pays tribute to the most famous style of Pinot Grigio from northern Italy – made in a dry, crisp, style that tantalises and refreshes the palate with notes of lemon citrus, Granny Smith apples and a hint of white peach.  

For those who prefer a slightly richer wine, the 2010 Mud House South Island Pinot Gris offers a smooth, rounded palate with a straw yellow hue, boasting ripe stone fruit and spicy pear notes, complemented by delicious aromas of quince and honeysuckle just perfect for summer entertaining.

Mud House Winemaker, Nadine Worley, says her love for Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio stems from working two vintages in Northern Italy.

“I fell in love with the refreshing crispness and food-friendly nature of Pinot Grigio and the 2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio has been crafted in this true, Italian style – early picked to retain the crisp citrus and apple flavours, with minimal intervention in the winery.


The French or Alsatian style of Pinot Gris is often fruitier, sweeter and a more viscous style of wine. The 2010 Mud House South Island Pinot Gris pays homage to this as a rich, fruit-forward style of Pinot Gris, a more rounded and mouth-filling wine, whereas the 2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio palate is zesty and fresh. The two styles highlight the versatility of this noble grape variety,” says Worley.

According to Worley, the three distinct South Island Vineyard regions that the 2010 Mud House South Island Pinot Gris is crafted from – Marlborough, Waipara and Nelson – give it its unique characteristics.

“The gravelly soils in Waipara offer minerality and elegant structure, while the heavier soil sites in Marlborough and Nelson provide stone fruit characters and a lovely oiliness to the palate.

The 2010 Marlborough growing season started with cool but stable weather through flowering. This colder than usual start to the season extended the ripening period, which is perfect for intensifying flavours and concentrating aromatics. The Waipara growing season also began with cool but stable weather through flowering.  Nelson saw great flowering and bud break and ideal ripening through the season. Fruit from Nelson was in excellent condition and has added another dimension to this wine,” says Worley.

Fruit for the 2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio was sourced solely from the d’Avergne Vineyard, situated in the lower Wairau Valley on moderately fertile, free draining clay soils.

“Harvested early to retain the crisp citrus and apple flavours, the 2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio is an ideal match for creative summer dining flavours, such as creamy salmon pasta with an orange and fennel salad,” says Worley.

Both the 2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio and 2010 Mud House South Island Pinot Gris have had their specific drinking style defined, thanks to the PinotG Style Spectrum™, an innovative new international scaling system.

Created by a group of Australian wine makers, wine marketers and wine scientists, alongside wine producers and the Australian Wine Research Institute, the PinotG Style Spectrum™ is a tool designed to help wine drinkers understand more about the styles of wine produced from the grape variety commonly known as Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris.

The PinotG Style Spectrum™ is a simple labelling graphic that quickly and clearly conveys the style of the wine – from crisp at one end (2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio), to luscious at the other (2010 Mud House South Island Pinot Gris) – a useful scale that provides information about the grape variety of the wine you’re choosing, along with the actual style of wine that’s in the bottle.

The 2010 Mud House South Island Pinot Gris is rated as a 7, while the 2011 Mud House Malborough Pinot Grigio is rated a 4.

The 2011 Mud House Marlborough Pinot Grigio and 2010 Mud House South Island Pinot Gris ($18.90-$21.90) and full range of Mud House wines are available at specialty wine outlets and leading supermarkets nationwide.

For more information, visit www.mudhouse.co.nz