Wild Earth Central Otago Pinot Gris 2024

Description

Dry, Pear, Spice

This Pinot Gris is a dry-style wine with ripe pear, white blossom, lime, and rockmelon aromas on the nose with a hint of ginger spice. It is richly textured and fragrant with bright citrus, pear, and crunchy stone fruit flavours. Made with food pairing in mind, this Pinot Gris is deceptively complex and a good candidate for cellaring for up to 8+ year.

The 2023-2024 growing season was hot and dry in January/February followed by an exceptionally cool March which compacted picking across the region. Each subregion responded slightly differently to the warm summer and thrived with the lower-than-average rainfall. The Growing Degree Days were well above the long-term average making it an optimal season for making wine in Central Otago.

The Pinot Gris grapes that created this beautiful wine came from the cooler sub-regions of Gibbston (35%) and Wanaka (8%) as well as the slightly warmer, later ripening sub-regions of Lowburn (35%) and Queensbury (22%). Each block was harvested at optimal ripeness in mid-late April to achieve a balanced wine that is dry in style with fresh aromatics. The wine was fermented in 50% stainless steel at cooler temperatures capturing freshness, and 50% older oak, enhancing the rich, creamy texture. It was an idyllic growing season for making textural dry-style Pinot Gris.