Pinot Gris 2024
20% fermented in neutral oak puncheons with wild yeast, remainder in stainless steel.
Rich aroma with classical presentations of pear, spice, nectarine flesh and custard apple.
Balanced beautifully with sweet stone fruit, spiced pear, lemon curd and peach skin. A long textural finish.
Technical Notes (this vintage)
Tasting Notes (pdf download)
Reviews
Bob Campbell
Dry, weighty riesling with lime, wild flowers and chalky-mineral characters. A smooth textured wine, with a vibrant backbone of tangy acidity that leaves a gentle mouth-watering finish. 2019-2023
92/100 4 Stars
Michael Cooper
Certified Organic the bright, light lemon/green 2017 vintage was estate-grown and hand harvested in the northern Wairarapa, and fermented and lees-aged for 10 months in old French oak barrels. Re-tasted in mid 2019, it is a full dry style, medium to full-bodied, with strong, still-youthful pear, peach and spice flavours, showing considerable complexity, fresh, balanced acidity, and a slightly creamy finish. Best drinking 2020+. Certified Organic.
4 Stars
Sam Kim
Gorgeously elegant, the wine shows ripe stone fruit, baked pear, spice and floral characters on the nose, leading to a succulent palate that is beautifully rounded and fleshy. It is complex and delicately savoury with a lengthy silky finish. At its best: now to 2021. Certified organic.
93/100 5 Stars
Cameron Douglas
Ripe, fruity spicy and complex with aromas and flavours of bosc pear and apple, some white pepper and sweet rose, a mineral earthy layer and gentle oak spice layers. Medium+ acidity in a just dry style; flavours of white fleshed fruits are persistent; a complex and well made example. Drink now and through 2022.
93 Points
Raymond Chan
Bright, even straw-yellow colour with pale gold hues. The nose is elegant in proportion with moderately deep aromas of white and yellow stonefruits and a subtle amalgam of white florals, nutty elements and minerals. The aromatics are soft in expression and show delicacy and detail. Dry to taste and medium-full bodied, the palate has good depth and intensity of white and yellow stonefruits, white florals, nutty notes and a little toasty oak. The fruit forms a well-concentrated core with good intensity and presence.. The mouthfeel is rounded and smooth with some underlying alcohol drive. The wine carries to a long, lingering finish of stonefruits, nuts and hints of oak. This is a well-proportioned dry Pinot Gris with deep flavours of white and yellow stonefruits, nuts and oak, with plenty of mouthfeel and presence, and alcohol drive. Match with most white meat dishes over the next 4+ years. Hand-picked fruit, WBP, and fully barrel-fermented in seasoned French oak to 13.5% alc. and dryness, the wine aged 10 months on lees with batonnage and 30% MLF. BioGro organic.
18.5/20
NZ Organic Wine Awards
Silver Medal
Raymond Chan
Bright straw-yellow colour with light golden hues, paler on edge. The nose is very full and densely packed with complex layers of savoury yellow stonefruits and nutty oak and minerally lees elements. The aromatics grow in concentration and intensity with aeration. Dry to taste and medium-full bodied, the palate features fulsome and broad flavours that are solidly presented with considerable depth, showing a complex layering of savoury yellow stonefruits melded with nuts, smoke and minerals. There is richness present, and this is balanced by fine textures lending a light grip. Underlying lacy energy contributes drive and carries the wine to a lingering, complex, savoury finish. This is a full and densely packed, complex layered dry Pinot Gris with savoury stonefruit and nutty flavours. Match with poultry, pork and veal over the next 3-4 years. Fruit WBP and fully barrel-fermented in seasoned French oak to 14.0% alc. and 1.5 g/L RS, the wine aged 12 months in barrel on lees with batonnage and 100% MLF. Certified BioGro organic.
18.0/20 – 4 Stars
Peter Saunders
Gold medal level Pinot Gris to this commentator. Oak matured, boldly fruited, balanced and tasty, a credit to the Gladstone sub-region of Wairarapa. A delicious dry white to suit a range of food styles from light to medium. Ready, without rush, into 2020.
97/100
Michael Cooper
Made in a weighty, rather Chardonnay-like style, this Wairarapa wine is hand-harvested and fermented and matured for a year in seasoned French oak casks, with extended lees-aging and lees-stirring. The 2012 vintage (4 stars) has a creamy, slightly nutty bouquet, leading into a mouthfilling, fleshy, slightly buttery wine with good richness, texture and complexity, and a smooth, bone-dry finish.
Raymond Chan
Fruit hand-picked and WBP, fully barrel-fermented in seasoned oak to 13.0% alc. and 1.4 g/L RS, the wine aged 12 months in oak, the wine undergoing batonnage. Full straw-yellow colour with pale gold hues. The nose is full and broad with solid and deep aromas of yellow stonefruits with minerally lees elements and nutty, barrel nuances, unfolding complexing layers of pear and honeysuckle with aeration. Dry to taste and medium-bodied, softly concentrated and well-packed flavours of savoury yellow stonefruits are melded with minerals, smoke and nutty elements. The mouthfeel is rounded from the barrel-ferment, with some phenolic textures forming a dry palate line. The palate flows with good drive to a weighty and dry, grainy, lingering finish. This is a medium-bodied, dry Pinot Gris with complex, savoury stonefruit, mineral and nutty funkiness. Serve with poultry and pork dishes over the next 3-4 years. Certified BioGro organic.
17.5+/20 4 stars
Sam Kim
A restrained rendition, the subtle bouquet shows ripe citrus, apple and floral with a hint of savoury complexity. It’s beautifully rounded on the palate with silky texture, well supported by bright acidity. The wine shows lovely texture and structure, without the overt fruity flavours. The wine was fermented and matured in barrels, although there’s not obvious ‘oaky’ characters. At its best: now to 2017.
914.5
Wine Orbit – Sam Kin
Fermented and matured in seasoned oak barrels, this is a complex wine displaying Chardonnay-like texture and mouthfeel with ripe stonefruit, citrus and a touch of vanilla characters. The wine shows lovely harmony and silkiness as well as good frame and structure. Very stylish Pinot Gris. At its best: now to 2012. 14% Screw cap. Grapes are grown using biodynamic principles and in conversion to organic certification.
4.5 Stars
John Saker
Interesting, has backbone and length. Slight herbal seam, sl high alc. But an attractive, driving, energetic style.
17
Raymond Chan
Made in a full-bodied, complex style, this was 100% barrel-fermented to dryness in old French oak barrels to 14.0% alc. and 2.0 g/L rs, then aged in these barrels for 12 months with lees contact and stirring. Light golden straw yellow in colour, this has a dense nose of ripe yellow stonefruits backed by nutty lees work and an underlay of spicy oak which shows in waves of nuances. Dry to taste, this has power, warmth from the alcohol, and depth of weight and texture on palate. A full-bodied wine with a Chardonnay like aspect, partially from the oak contribution, this should match poultry and pork dishes extremely well over the next 3-4 years.
17.5-/20