Pinot Gris 2019

Aromas of ripe pear, ginger spice and red apples with floral notes come together beautifully on the nose to from an attractive and refined wine. Dry in style the palate shows lovely weight and texture without cloying and has juicy stonefruit characters and a lovely mineral edge running through the wine. A beautiful lingering finish rounds off a serious yet approachable style of Pinot Gris.

This was a season of two halves. Spring was wet and cool with much of the region suffering damage from a late frost on the morning of 19th October. The rains came in late November and continued right through to Xmas, making it one of our wettest Springs on record. From January onwards the classic Wairarapa summer kicked in, with long warm cloudless days being the norm. Abundant sunshine plus plenty of soil moisture gave us a vigorous vineyard canopy to deal with, all the way through the second half of the season. 2019 was one of our earliest harvest starts, with picking commencing at the end of March and finished by mid-April. Crop levels were notably lower but concentration is excellent, with the wines looking well structured, and rich with lovely vibrant depth of flavour.

The fruit was carefully hand harvested and gently whole bunch pressed with the juice left to settle for two days. The juice was then racked to tanks where it was fermented using selected yeast to give finesse and aromatic intensity. Towards the end of ferment the wine was transferred to finish half in tank and the remaining half in older French oak barrel. After ferment the wine was aged on lees for a further seven months before racking and blending back together again. This has given the wine depth and richness on the palate.

Bottle aged for one year before release.