Tohu Awatere Valley Marlborough Pinot Gris 2021

Description

• Dry style
• Orange blossom
• Pear & apple
• Smooth acidity

This fruit-driven Pinot Gris from Marlborough’s Awatere Valley displays bright aromas of orange blossom and juicy pear. On the palate flavours of fresh quince and crisp golden apple blend seamlessly with hints of sweet spice. With integrated fine phenolics and smooth acidity this is a fresh and richly textured wine with a long and lingering finish.

The grapes from this wine are sourced from two vineyards located in the cool southern Awatere Valley region of Marlborough. The majority of the grapes come from a vineyard near the coastal planes of the Awatere, with a smaller portion sourced from a vineyard located further inland on young fertile river terraces.

The 2020/2021 growing season started with wet and inconsistent conditions over the flowering period, resulting in low berry and bunch numbers. Perfect dry and warm conditions over the following summer resulted in ideal ripening conditions, which combined with lower yields led to excellent flavour development and an early harvest.

Grapes sourced from two sites located in the lower Awatere Valley are gently pressed once at the winery to obtain clear free-run juice, with the harder pressings kept separate and allowed to oxidise to soften phenolics before being recombined with the free-run. The juice is then settled and racked into a stainless steel tank for warming and inoculation with carefully selected yeasts. The fermentation is carried out at cool temperatures of around 13°C to help preserve the fruity characters and lasts around 21 days until stopped when the levels of residual sugar, acidity and light phenolics are perfectly balanced. Post-ferment the wine is held in tank and matured for a short period of time before being stabilised ready for bottling. With no additional finings necessary this wine was ready for bottling in August 2021.