Description
This wine explodes on the nose with a fruit salad of peach, nectarine, melon and mandarin combining with honey, nougat and floral notes for an intense and inviting array of aromas. The palate is elegant, dry and concentrated with ripe, tropical, citrus and stone fruit flavours and delicious textural creaminess from the wild fermentation. It is a charming mouthful, concluding in a long, smooth finish.
Awards
90 pts James Suckling
91 pts Vinous by Antonio Galloni
93 pts Wine Orbit
91 pts The Tasting Panel Magazine
Certifications
Alcohol
13.61%
Analytical data
Vineyard
Around 56% of the fruit for this Pinot Gris came from the Meadowbank vineyard in the Taylor Pass sub-region, with the remainder coming from two unirrigated vineyards in the Lower Wairau. The grapes were a mixture of the older 2/15 clone and newer 457 and 52B clones which have been producing beautiful little berries full of concentrated stonefruit and spice flavours.
Vinification
The parcel of 52B fruit was hand harvested, with the remainder picked by machine. In the winery the majority of the juice was pressed and settled in tank then racked for a slow, cool fermentation with selected yeast to preserve fruit characters and freshness. Jules retained higher levels of solids through the fermentation to enhance mouthfeel and texture. The hand harvested portion of grapes was whole bunch pressed to old barrels for a wild ferment with natural yeasts. This portion of wine also underwent a full malolactic fermentation with some lees stirring. The components were blended in late July and bottled in November.
Maturation
The components were blended in late July and bottled in November.