Black Estate French Farm Waipara Pinot Gris 2018

Description

A white gold hue. A bouquet of lime, pear and chalk. The pallet is bright with satisfying weight, balanced with bright acidity which ensures the wine persists and refreshes. A unique balance of delicate volcanic minerals, textural phenolics and invigorating fruit.

The 2018 Black Estate French Farm Pinot Gris was sourced from a 30 year old hillside vineyard on basalt soils in French Farm Banks Peninsula. This vineyard is carefully managed following organic principles but is yet to gain full organic certification. Once again intense bunches with mature skins
and vibrant crunchy acidity were produced.

Moderate winter rain fall allowed budburst to occur in spring with the soil at field capacity. A mild frost free spring meant rapid and even establishment of canopies. Six weeks of no rain in late spring brought on an early and rapid flowering. Intermittent rainfall from December through the remainder of the growing season created useful vigour but increased the requirement for under vine weeding, canopy thinning and trimming. A hot humid summer increased the risk of disease from Powdery Mildew or botrytis so vineyard teams worked hard right up to harvest removing leaves and some fruit increasing ventilation in the canopies and ensuring we could harvest ripe and disease free fruit. Harvest commenced in late March. Diligent hand harvesting was crucial checking that each bunch was suitable for harvest. Growers in the region were very grateful for warm, dry, and windy conditions from March 25 to April 8 2018 that finished off ripening perfectly. 2018 will be remembered as a vigorous, warm, and humid season that was demanding but produced outstanding fruit.

All fruit was hand sorted and whole bunch pressed over 4 hours after which the juice was transferred to 1300L stainless steel tank and an old 500L barrel with full solids. The juice was fermented using wild yeast and then aged on lees without sulphur for 7 months. The parcels were blended to tank just prior to bottling where 40mg/L of SO2 was added.

Food Pairing: Pair this Pinot Gris with grilled or seared fish, oven roasted chickens or calamari