• Dry style
• Apple & pear
• Ginger
• Lingering mouthfeel

"Rich, ripe and quite concentrated Pinot Gris with apple, pear, ginger and tangy citrus flavours. An appealing, textural wine with a backbone of fine, peppery tannins" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Dec 2019

Pale with golden touches in the glass. Elegant aromas of rockmelon yield to layers of chamomile and citrus. Beautiful prosciutto-wrapped melon, Nashi pear and fruit notes are underscored with lingering texture, mouthfeel and linear acidity. The palate is complex, finishing with hints of wet stone minerality.

The grapes come from the family-owned Loveblock Farm in Lower Dashwood, Marlborough. Relatively unique in Marlborough, these grapes were sourced entirely from the certified-organic estate vineyard, the Woolshed. Here, the vineyard soils are alluvial silt over stone. Organic management decreases the vigour of the vines, reducing berry size and hence overall yields. The grapes were harvested in late March yielding nine tonnes per hectare.

In making dry Pinot Gris, we have to manage the vine to give physiological ripeness at low Brix, so that the wine is not overly alcoholic. Organic management does this for us, with the competition from the wild flowers and grasses forcing the vine to struggle. Once the grapes were deemed ripe the fruit was machine harvested and membrane pressed immediately (no preservatives were added in the field to reduce the grape phenolics). The juice was then floated and inoculated. This was followed by cool fermentation with an organic yeast, in order to optimise the aromatics, and the ferment was stopped when deemed in balance. Once finished, the wines were stabilised and bottled in October 2019.

Perched on top of the hills overlooking Marlborough's Awatere Valley, the Loveblock is far removed from the agricultural bustle in the valley below. From here you can almost see the end of the planet, the peace lifts you above your troubles. Winemkaers are charged with creating the best wine they can to express this extraordinary place and its unique aspect. They follow their deeply held belief of low intervention farming, which allows the wine to show its true and naked terroir. Loveblock is their heart and soul.

Food Pairing: A wine to enjoy with delicate Asian flavours, seafood of all sorts or just simply by itself.