Clark Estate Black Birch Marlborough Pinot Gris 2020

Description

• Dry style
• Peach & pear
• Ginger nut
• Silky texture

"Delightfully ripe and inviting, showing yellow peach, Nashi pear and lemon peel characters on the nose. The palate displays lovely focus and persistency with silky texture and refreshing acidity, making it fabulously drinkable. At its best: now to 2023" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit

"Varietal and classic with distinctive aromas and flavours of brown pair, Asian pear, a touch of sherbet and mild lees autolysis. Medium+ acidity and weight, just dry with a fleshy textured palate. The finish suggests honeysuckle white spice and Asian pear flavours. Balanced and well-made, ready to enjoy from today and through 2022" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier

"The ageworthy 2020 vintage was estate-grown in the upper Awatere Valley. Pale straw, it is mouthfilling, with good intensity of peachy, spicy flavours, a vague hint of sweetness, and a slightly creamy texture. Best drinking 2022+" Michael Cooper

The 2020 Black Birch Pinot Gris is delicate yet powerful. There is an abundance of quince and ripe pear aromas with full body weight and a creamy texture, laced with ginger nut and bread yeast characters. All held together with beautifully fine acidity.

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. This 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.

The 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.

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. The 2020 Black Birch Pinot Gris is delicate yet powerful. There is an abundance of quince and ripe pear aromas with full body weight and a creamy texture, laced with ginger nut and bread yeast characters. All held together with beautifully fine acidity.