2022 Estate Selection  Pinot Gris

$27

A very pale straw color in the glass.  Some vanilla in the aroma, and again in the fruit.  “Delicate aromas”. “Clementine. Stone fruits”.  “Very well-balanced”.

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We normally cold-ferment this wine in stainless steel, but, in a trial, the 2019 was about 1/3rd barrel-fermented.  The fermentation took place in a 12-year-old “hogshead” - - what the French in the Rhone Valley call “un foudre”.  Since the barrel is very old, the wine extracts minimal oak character, although that is probably one source of this wine’s vanilla notes.  This technique adds to the body of the wine and increases the traditional, soft pinot gris mouthfeel. One taster described this as “a velvet sensation”.  A later re-tasting added “Meyer lemon”, “slate minerality”, an “oily nose’ and “dried apricot”.

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