Vavasour Awatere Valley Pinot Gris 2026

Description

Dry, Floral, Pear

Intense and inviting. Nashi pear, crisp apple and spiced ginger, with hints of white blossom and peach. Vibrant and juicy. Rich and concentrated, balanced by refined acidity and Awatere Valley minerality. Spiced pear and ginger meet creamy lees texture and subtle skin-derived structure.

This stonier, drier, cooler & windier pocket of Marlborough, the Awatere Valley, conspires to produce distinctive, complex & intriguing wines. Marquee sites in the lower Awatere Valley, are noteworthy for their wide diurnal temperature swings, contributing to strong personality and incredible balance in the wines. Soils are low in fertility with stones and pebbles mixed with clay and loam. The rainfall ranges from 279-406 millimeters (11-16 inches) a year, very arid by any measure.

The 2026 growing season once again provided excellent conditions for grapes. Spring bought very warm and dry conditions, combined with slightly lower yields than 2025, the region was talking about a particularly early vintage. While January was quite wet & cloudy, late summer and early autumn provided warm, dry days and cool nights. This allowed for a long ripening period, good flavour development, retention of acidity and very low disease incidence. During harvest weather stayed warm and fine allowing fruit to come into the winery
before the mid autumn rain started.

Food Pairing: Asian cuisine, Summer BBQ with fresh garden salads. The clean profile of this wine can pair well with richer dishes..