Loveblock Pinot Gris - Estate 2020

Pale with golden touches. Delicate aromas of jasmine and citrus flower yield to additional layers of Asian pear and cantaloupe. Beautiful notes of juicy white peach, Asian and Packham pear are followed by sweet citrus, hints of barley-sugar and minerality. Rounded finish with lingering texture, mouthfeel and linear acidity.

Loveblock Marlborough Pinot Gris Tasting Notes with Erica

The grapes are from our family-owned Loveblock Farm in Lower Dashwood area. Relatively unique in Marlborough, these grapes were sourced entirely from the elevated Hillside vineyard. Here, the vineyard soils are predominately aged colluvial loams containing some silt loam over clay. The grapes were harvested in March yielding three tonnes per acre.

In making dry Pinot Gris, we have to manage the vine to give flavour ripeness at low Brix, so that the wine is not overly alcoholic. Once the grapes were ripe the fruit was machine harvested (no preservatives were added in the vineyard to reduce the grape phenolics). The juice was then floated and inoculated. This was followed by cool fermentation with an aromatic yeast (in order to optimise the aromatics) and the ferment was stopped when in balance. The wine was fermented with minimum skin contact. 7% Gewurztraminer and 7% Riesling were blended in for acidity regulation and added complexity. Once finished, the wine was cold stabilised and bottled in November 2020.