Blue Earth 2022 Pinot Gris
NZD $45.00 inc GST
A sophisticated wine for people who prefer dry, textured Pinot Gris. It has aromas of pear and nectarine, with a lovely mineral edge running through the wine. You can drink it now, or put it in your cellar.
Description
Poised and crisp with a mineral-driven palate and concentrated fruit.
19/20 pts (95 pts)
Candice Chow – Raymond Chan Wine Reviews (read full review here)
Blue Earth Estate Pinot Gris 2022
TASTING NOTES
Aromas of white pear and honeysuckle with ginger and floral notes come together beautifully on the nose to from an attractive and refined wine
Serious and rich in style the palate shows lovely weight and texture without cloying and has juicy stonefruit characters and a lovely mineral edge running through the wine. A beautiful lingering finish rounds off a concentrated yet approachable dry style of Pinot Gris.
THE VINEYARD
This family owned and operated vineyard is on an old river terrace at the south end of Te Muna Valley. The stony soils with an underlay of limestone, a gentle north facing slope and exposure to westerly winds produce low volume crops of high intensity.
VINIFICATION
The fruit was carefully hand harvested and gently whole bunch pressed with the juice left to settle for three days. The juice was then racked to tanks where it was fermented using a special Pinot Gris yeast to give finesse and aromatic intensity. Towards the end of ferment a portion of the wine was transferred into older neutral French oak barrels to finish. After ferment the wine was aged on lees as two separate portions for a further nine months before racking and blending back together again. This has given the wine depth and richness on the palate.
THE SEASON
What a crazy, roller-coaster of a vintage! The season started off well with above average warm and dry weather prevailing through much of spring.
Rain came in mid-December but by this stage most of the flowering had completed and we were looking at an excellent crop.
The second half of the growing season was were the ride got even trickier. One of our wettest February’s on record saw rain fall constantly throughout the month and resulted in us experiencing very challenging vineyard conditions. A huge effort and focus in the vineyard on dropping any diseased bunches and leaving only the cleanest ripest bunches on the vines meant we crossed the finish line of harvest with some lovely fruit and a very happy and somewhat relieved vineyard team.
Overall the wines look fruit forward and approachable with not as much structure as the last three vintages. Whilst the harvest may not go down as a classic, there is some purity to the wines that also show as very varietal in nature that reflect the hard work that was put in throughout the growing season.
Information
REGION: Martinborough
OAK MATURATION: Aged 35% in old 225L French oak barrels and 65% in tank for nine months before blending
CLONE: Lincoln Berrysmith
HARVEST DATE: 3rd and 5th April 2022
HARVEST ANALYSIS: 22.4 Brix 3.33 pH 6.75 g/L TA
BOTTLING DATE: 10th March 2023
WINE ANALYSIS: 3.45 pH 5.95 g/L TA 13.65% Alc 0.60 g/L RS