Esk Valley Pinot Gris 2022

In New Zealand, Pinot Gris is rapidly gaining ground on Sauvignon Blanc in terms of popularity. This richly aromatic and slightly off-dry style, with its exotic fruit aromas and flavours, has so much going on in the glass that it’s easy to see why that might be.

Maraekakaho Hawkes Bay

It was a challenging vintage to navigate in Hawkes Bay with frequent rain through February and March. The summer started hot, with very settled weather around the Christmas period before the wetter late summer arrived. The fruit was often picked at relatively low sugar levels however the hot summer delivered excellent flavour ripeness. The aromatic wines look very good.

This is a single vineyard wine from the Keltern Vineyard situated near Maraekakaho on a stony river terrace formed by the Ngaruroro River. With warm daytime temperatures and cool nights this is an ideal site to grow premium Pinot Gris. The old vines are spur pruned and intensively managed to provide ripe fruit from low yielding vines.

The grapes were harvested in the morning while temperatures were cool and processed as quickly and gently as possible to avoid colour and tannin pick up from the pink Pinot Gris berries. The juice was settled bright before fermentation in both tank and large old oak barrels. The finished wine was left on its yeast lees with regular stirring until bottling (8%).