Honey, pear and rose petal, then rolling onto toasty oak and caramelised fig.
Fragrant and delicious with flavours of white peach, honey suckle, hints of nutty hazelnuts and toasty oak. Beautiful and complex with an oily and viscous mouth feel and a lovely soft, round finish.
Harvest
The 2008-09 season can only be described as almost perfect. Spring weather was warm and windy. Cooler weather prior to Christmas had some impact on flowering and fruit set, which resulted in fewer berries per bunch naturally lowering the yield per vine, whilst the long hot dry spell over the New Year helped to ward off any potential disease. This year produced very ripe and flavoursome grapes for the Pinot Gris. Harvest was a little later than expected but produced berries with 23.5 brix showing that the Awatere Valley is an ideal spot to grow aromatic wines.
Winemaking
The grapes were pressed without sulphur and the juice treated aerobically to help stabilise the colour, which has given this wine complexity that needs to be tried to be believed. Very long and slow ferment took place using Riesling yeast to help with aromatics with a slight hint of residual sugar and a smallest touch of oak.
