Pinot Gris 2019
Regular price
$51.00
Sale
One of the highest rated dry Pinot Gris - a gem that stands out from the crowd! This noble, dry wine delights from the start, with opulent aromas of sun-ripened apricots and luscious rock melon. Aged to perfection, it presents a radiant, mouth-filling texture that springs from perfectly ripe, hand-picked fruit, enriched by skin maceration that imparts a delicate pink blush. Every sip is layered and expressive, with a lively freshness that leads to a graceful, honeyed finish, lasting long after the last drop.
Vintage 2019+
An ideal growing season, combined with our low-yield approach, yielded flawless, healthy, and flavourful berries with a subtle perfume. These gems ripened to perfection, emanating from 23-year-old vines.
Hans' Comments+
Meticulously hand-picked and destemmed grapes allowed for an extended skin maceration to extract the impressive flavours and pinkish colour. Using no cultured yeast (or any other adjustments and enhancements) for a true terroir wine with a sense of place, the must progressed naturally to a wild, cool fermentation without any residual sugar left. 20% of the wine matured in French oak puncheons for 18-months with its fine lees regular stirred assisting to the remarkable silkiness, complexity and depth. This wine has not been exposed to cold stabilization and fining, with only a light filtration to retain the elusive aromas. Natural sediments may show and are testimony of this high quality, dry Pinot Gris. Perfect in taste, naturally.
Tasting Notes+
From one of New Zealand’s pioneers of Pinot Gris. Opulent aromas of apricots and peaches jump out of the glass. Vivaciously mouth-filling with invigorating acidity, driving through the forefront, wonderfully sweet fruit from physiological ripeness. The lees contact adds to the silky texture and complexity. A beautiful long and uplifting finish for a dry Pinot Gris with no residual sugar.
Technical Data+
| Variety | 100% Pinot Gris |
| Rootstock | RG, 101-14 |
| Vine Planted | 1996 |
| Soil | Shallow (<45 cm) stony soil, excessively drained, developed from stony alluvium. Mixed even within the rows (sandy, gravelly, patchy clay-sand layers) |
| Planting Density | 5,500 vines/ha |
| Yield | 3t/ha |
| Alcohol | 13% |
| Residual Sugar | <1 g/l |
| Ageing Potential | 5 years |
| Bottles Produced | 2,058 |
Food Matching Suggestions+
All our dry but full-bodied wines are famous for its food friendliness and Pinot Gris is especially versatile. Try with any pan fried white fish or a Sashimi.
Industry Reviews+
Wine Align (John Szabo) - 96 points (2019)
"An amber style pinot gris, pinkish-bronze in colour, with an intriguing mix of oxidative aromatics, dried herbs and flowers, dried and bruised red berry fruit, also lightly vegetal, stewed celery and celery salt - another idiosyncratic wine from Herzog. The palate is thick and creamy but not flabby, with some textural relief and balancing bitterness to focus the long finish. All in all, a remarkably concentrated and complex, and also very clean and well-made skin-fermented white, with potential to improve with age. Indeed, I'd love to see this after 2024, or fully aged into the early '30s for something even more unique."
James Suckling - 95 points
March 2023. "This is an interesting wine with a bronze color and citrus undertone. Character of persimmons and spiced pears with some iron. Flavorful finish. Fresh, too. Sort of an orange wine vibe to it! Awesome. Drink or hold."