2025 Pinot Gris

It came to me one morning, as I was lingering a little longer than necessary in a row of Pinot Gris, that I might be afflicted with the curse of treating all varietals like they are Pinot Noir.  Surely, spending my formative years trying to tame five youthful rows of Pinot Noir alongside my Mom had something to do with this.  Although this behaviour may be appropriate in tight-clustered relatives like Pinot Gris, treating everything like Pinot Noir is not something that I would advise to those wishing to maintain their sanity.

Obsessive attention to details like crop load, fruit exposure, cluster spacing and inner-cluster debris have become normal protocol in our Pinot Gris over the years.  However, I don't think I could justify the time spent in that vineyard if I was not making my own wine from the fruit.  A more pragmatic grape grower would rightfully scoff at the levels I go to to keep my Pinot Gris clean, but the winemaker in me just can't help but linger until I'm sure that every rotten berry or potential Botrytis hot spot has been ameliorated.  Maybe the curse lies in being a vineyard-tending winemaker.

Anecdotally, I have noticed more fruit consistency and less disease incidence in our Pinot Gris over the last half decade, much of which can be explained by three consecutive stellar vintages in Niagara.  In fact, even when we've experienced Botrytis issues in the neighbouring Sauvignon Blanc, the Pinot Gris have been spared.  To that end, I can confirm that it does not take much evidence to convince a winemaker that a little extra time spent in a vineyard is justifiable if the end results are clean fruit and varietally pure wine.

We harvested our pampered Pinot Gris on September 15th at 22.2 degrees Brix, TA 6.40 g/L and pH 3.36.  The pressed juice was cool fermented in a combination of neutral oak (66%) and steel tank (34%).  The marathon fermentation lasted for 38 days until the wine finally reached a balance point to my palate at a specific gravity of 0.997.  Following bentonite fining for protein stabilization, the wine was allowed to age in barrel and tank for an additional three months.

The 2025 Pinot Gris features an alluring golden-pink colour developed through a brief period of skin contact post harvest.  The vintage seems to have coaxed out rare aromatic complexity, highlighted by notes of honey, pear, apricot and faint spice.  Upon tasting, the wine shows a rich, velvety texture derived from the barrel fermented portion and resolves into a nicely balanced finish.