I first met this wine at the end of June as it was just being sent up to Auckland for bottling – my first wine of the 2020 vintage; and the first person to have tried it outside of the winery. Winemaker Gordon Russell was telling me that as much care goes into this in some ways as The Terraces – their premium wine. A really good vintage and 100% of the fruit from a block in the lauded Keltern vineyard, where the drier conditions and inland location really suits the Pinot Gris. In our Top 10 tasting in February, the 2019 came a creditable fourth place.
A generous wine, fermented in a mix of old 600 litre barrels with wild yeast – and also in tank. Brightly perfumed, with honeysuckle, elderflower, nectarines and orange zest. Medium-bodied, it retains freshness and despite a lower acidity – a real zing.
Lush fruit flavours of nashi pear, straight-off-the-tree ripe apricots and preserved lemon, with ginger, weetbix and baked apple Danish. Soft, and almost dry – just a lick of residual, vanilla sugar. In the mouth there’s an opulence – with a silken texture and a honeyed richness. The finish is super-long, unfolding with baking spices and a sweetness lingering.
This has everything in place to mature amazingly well – almost confoundingly so. If you’d asked most NZ wine people a few years ago, whether they thought a NZ Pinot Gris was worth keeping for 20 years, they would have laughed. But I predict this will outlast most Chardonnays. 92pts
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