2023 Clark Estate “Black Birch” Pinot Gris

Silver Medal – 2023 National Wine Awards Aotearoa NZ

Silver Medal – 2023 The Marlborough Wine Show

Bronze Medal – 2023 New Zealand International Wine Show

Bronze Medal – 2023 Australian & New Zealand Boutique Wine Show

Bronze Medal – 2024 Aotearoa Regional Wine Competition

94 points / 5 stars            Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

This is gorgeously styled and expressed, showing poached pear, peach, fig and rich floral aromas, leading to a fabulously flavoursome palate that’s both elegant and opulent. Succulent and fleshy with a sustained delectable finish. At its best: now to 2027.

91 points / 4 stars            Bob Campbell, MW

Off-dry pinot gris with delicately lush pear, stewed apple, and honeysuckle flavours. Nicely balanced wine with refreshing yet mellow acidity. A high-energy wine.

93 points / 5 stars            Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Wine Reviews

Bright, even, pale yellow with depth. The nose is softly full, with aromas of apple, Nashi pear, honey hints and floral details. Full-bodied, off-dry to taste, aromas of apple and Nashi pear entwined with honeysuckle, honey and five-spice. The sweetness enriched the wine with body, refreshing acidity, and spices carry a moreish linger. Match with pork satay and duck rillette over the next 3 years. Fermented cool to 13% alc, 5.6 g/l RS, aged on lees.  Apr 2024

Viticulture

Our vines are now sending their roots deep into the old soils of the Upper Awatere valley, soils which have been molded over the millennia and the vines struggle to find the nutrients they need, helping to reduce the crop naturally, giving us small but flavoursome fruit every year.

Winemaking

The grapes were quickly pressed off the skins and fermented under very cool conditions.  The ferment was stopped when the fruit sweetness complimented the fine acidity. The wine was left on full yeast lees for an extended period to mature and gain extra complexity.

Wine Analysis

pH        3.6

TA        5.52 g/L

Alc       13.0%

RS        g/L

The Black Birch is a pristine alpine stream which feeds clean mountain waters into the main Awatere River.  The Black Birch range also directs cooler winds down onto the vines during the autumn months, slowing the ripening process just enough to ripen the Pinot Gris fruit to perfection.

Our Pinot Gris has a delicate richness and power driven by the low cropping and fully ripened grapes hanging from the vines that have been nourished by the Black Birch waters.