Cable Bay Awatere Valley Pinot Gris 2021

Made from 25-year-old vines, the smell of summer jumps from the glass on first inspection; fresh Pacific Rose apples and white flowers are supported by notes of rock melon, manuka honey and wet river stone. On harvest day the skins are macerated in the juice to impart a grapefruit pithy bite to drive focus to the back palate, this combined with good acid drive mimics biting into a crunchy apple. Dry in style, this wine is an honest expression of our Rocky Vineyard and the growing season of 2021 in our appellation.

Our carefully selected, estate owned site benefits from naturally terraced land, which leads down to the Awatere River. The region is blessed with low rainfall and low vigour soils, predominantly formed from alluvial gravel, which lends remarkable texture and minerality to our wines. The vines are densely planted which causes inter-vine competition, resulting in low yields of top quality fruit.

The grapes were harvested at night and brought straight into the winery. The fruit was pressed after a period of soaking the grape skins with its juice. This juice was fermented to dryness at cool temperatures using neutral yeast, allowing the varietal fruit flavours and concentration to be fully expressed. The wine was left to develop on light yeast lees for five months, and as a result, has developed lovely brioche characters on the palate. No fining was needed on this wine, which allows the phenolic structure to be articulated. The wine was bottled and rested for 9 months before being released.

Fermented and aged on lees in a stainless steel vat.