Viticulture

We mostly manage our Pinot Gris vines with the same level of care as our Pinot Noir. Canopy management with good but not excessive fruit exposure is important. The vines are shoot thinned prior to flowering and on veraison, when the grapes are colouring to this pretty pink, crop thinning is carried out further to balance the crop and intensify the flavours in the remaining grapes. The resulting yield was reduced to 2 tonnes/ acre, the equivalent of 34 hl/ha.

Harvest Dates: 31st March- 3rd April
Brix: 24.2 – 25.5

Winemaking

The grapes were hand picked per clonal block at their optimum flavour. Our Pinot Gris shows maximum flavour at a later maturity. Grapes are then loaded directly to the press and gently whole bunch pressed. The resultant juice settled for twelve hours and then fermented (partially with wild yeast, largely with different styles of cultured yeasts) with a proportion of solids in old French oak puncheons (double sized barrels) and some old barriques.
A portion of the wine (20%) was left to naturally go through the secondary malo-lactic fermentation to enhance texture and complexity. The wine was then left to mature on very light lees for nine months. The wine was subsequently racked and settled again prior to a light filtration and bottling.

Wine Analysis

Alcohol: 14%; Acidity: 5.5 g/l; pH: 3.44; Sugar: <2 g/l

Tasting Note

This wine is a lovely example of what the varietal can show. It is full round and ripe in the mouth with a grainy texture and soft nutty complexity showing notes of quince and ripe pears. It has excellent length and roundness of flavour. This wine is very approachable whilst young but will gain complexity over the next five years.