Willamette Valley Pinot Gris
Don’t get us started on Pinot Gris or we will awkwardly corner you for an uncomfortable amount of time, monologuing about this hugely misunderstood grape. As early as the 13th Century it was known as a pigmented grape that made wines with a pink or amber hue, until post-WWII technology made it possible to extract just clear juice without influence from its purple skins. Pinot gris (or grigio) as a white wine was born, and its international popularity overwrote centuries of history. Recent genetic sequencing proves what we knew all along— Pinot gris is a light red grape, utterly identical to Pinot noir, with some altered pigment markers in its DNA.
With that in mind, we approach making our Pinot Gris exactly as we do our Pinot Noir, which means that some grapes are destemmed and some left as whole bunches, all allowed to ferment with wild ambient yeast in open-top tanks until dry, then pressed into a combination of neutral French and Oregon oak where the wine undergoes natural secondary malolactic fermentation.
2022 Vintage
Grapes: 100% Pinot gris
Vineyards: No Clos Radio (63%), Silvershot Vineyards (37%)
Appellation: Willamette Valley
Age of Vines: 22-32 years
Vineyard Elevation: 300-400 ft
Harvest Dates: 10/6/22-10/16/22
Alcohol: 12.5%
Production: 373 cases
Tasting notes
Red currants, cascara, leather, sandalwood, orange oil, Campari
Service note: Everyone wants to chill this like a white wine and we beg you to resist the temptation (and stop drinking your whites so cold anyway)! In our perfect world, you would drink this at just-below “cellar” temp, or like, stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes before drinking (but no more)