Vin Gris 2022

Felton Road, tasting note (feltonroad.com – produktside feltonroad.com, hentet 2026-10-19): 2022 Felton Road Vin Gris – område: Bannockburn (Central Otago); drue: Pinot Noir. Producentens noter (engelsk): Tasting note: A very pale rose gold colour from free-run juice with no skin contact. Its Pinot Noir origin is apparent from the wild strawberry that leads the nose and contributes to a broad and textural palate. Red berries sit amongst a background of crushed almond from the slow indigenous primary and malolactic fermentations. Surprisingly complex, yet delightfully approachable and lingering. A perfect accompaniment to summer! Vineyard & viticulture: Felton Road farms four properties totaling 34 ha in the Bannockburn subregion of Central Otago. Meticulous summer management of a single vertical shoot positioned (VSP) canopy ensures even and early fruit maturity. Shoot thinning, shoot positioning, leaf plucking, bunch thinning and harvest are all carried out by hand to ensure optimum quality fruit. Cover crops are planted between rows to assist in vine balance and to improve soil health and general biodiversity. Regular rainfall throughout spring and early summer was higher than normal, and along with warmer soil temperatures, resulted in solid early season growth. Flowering commenced early in warm and ideal conditions with a cool spell and rain at the end, which fortunately had little detrimental effect on the fruit set. A warm and dry January continued to advance development with veraison starting early and proceeding rapidly. Early February rain replenished drying soils and a cooler month was welcomed to arrest the advanced development. A return to warm and dry weather from early March meant grapes ripened quickly during the final stages. Harvest commenced early on March 16 with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir continued to be picked from the heavier soils and higher elevation vineyards of MacMuir and Elms until April 4. Vinification: Vin Gris (vahn gree) is made from Pinot Noir juice and is only produced in certain vintages, where larger than desired berries occur. A small amount of free-run juice is immediately separated from Pinot Noir tanks during destemming to prevent colour pick-up. This has the effect to help restore a better skin to juice ratio for the remaining Pinot Noir wine. Fermentation in stainless steel tank with indigenous yeast, followed by indigenous maloactic and ageing on the gross yeast lees; built palate weight and complexity. Bottled after coarse filtration only in early-September.