Ant Moore A+ Marlborough Pinot Gris 2021

Description

• Dry style
• Poached pear
• Jasmine
• Plush mouthfeel

"It's gorgeously ripe and enticing on the nose showing golden peach, poached pear, rockmelon and rich floral aromas, leading to a succulent palate delivering excellent weight and plush mouthfeel. Flavoursome and instantly appealing. At its best: now to 2025" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Jan 2022

"Lifted and fresh varietal aromas of brown pear, apple and nashi, there’s a light ager beer leesy quality adding breadth and complexity. Overall an enticing bouquet with a core of fruit. Quite silky on the palate with a whisper of residual sweetness contrasted by acidity and lees textures then flavours of white fleshed fruits and a touch of spice. Balanced, well made, refreshing and ready to drink from 2022 through 2024" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Mar 2022

Straw yellow with light orange hues. An enticing aroma of jasmine, golden peach and poached pears. Figs, pear and spices with excellent weight and a plush mouthfeel.

The fruit was predominantly sourced from the Wairau Valley Estate vineyard with a small parcel from Casey’s Road vineyard at Blind River.

Harvest 2021 was about 8 days earlier than 2020 and kicked off on March 9th and was complete in 4 weeks finishing on April 9th. No two vintages are the same and this year the difference was the lower yield. Springtime flowering conditions weren’t favourable with cooler weather than usual leading to a large reduction in yield. Some late spring frosts occurred affecting some localised areas of Marlborough and contributed to the lower yielding 2021 vintage. However, we had great weather throughout the ripening period, lots of sunshine and cooler nights, and very little rain so there was no disease pressure and all varieties achieved fantastic ripeness and flavours, albeit small volumes.

The grapes were gently pressed with the pressings treated separately before being returned to the free run. The cloudy juice was cold settled over approximately 48 hours. The clear juice was then racked to tanks. The tanks were warmed and inoculated with two yeasts chosen for their ability to enhance varietal characters and the texture of the wine. Temperature of the ferment was 14°C to 16°C. After fermentation the wine was chilled and racked off fermentation lees after 2 to 3 weeks with blending trials and final blending completed by the end of June. The wine was fined to improve aromatic expression and mouthfeel then stabilised before final crossflow filtration to prepare for bottling.

Food Pairing: Divinely matched with a pear, fig and goat cheese salad or an Asian curry.