Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Pinot Gris Estate is expressive and pretty in the glass, with notes of tarragon, ripe pear, white peach, and citrus blossoms. It’s elegant and mouthwatering, with a salinity that's balanced by refreshing acidity and a medium-bodied feel. It has a lovely elegance and concentration that’s only going to flesh.
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James Suckling
Attractive floral, smoky, meaty aromas lead to a dry, juicy palate of crisp green apples, Anjou pears and smoked ham. It has a touch of grip in the texture from short skin contact before fermentation. It’s complex, well-balanced and different. From organically certified grapes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Estate Pinot Gris comes from vines averaging about 29 years in age. Tank-fermented and matured for 11 months sur lie, it has inviting aromas of peach, apricot, green herbs, honey and spice. The medium-bodied palate features expressive, honeyed flavors and a softly oily texture. It’s balanced by fresh acidity and has a long, floral finish.
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Vinous
The 2023 Pinot Gris Estate is wildly fresh, with an airy bouquet of dusty dried flowers, cracked slate and lemon oil tempting the imagination. It is soothingly round and pure in style, with ripe orchard fruit swirling across a core of zesty acidity. Lime mingles with a tinge of sour green melon on the finish, punctuated by nuances of fresh mint.
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Wine Spectator
Lush and fragrant, with precise flavors of pear, melon and spices that build richness on the finish. Drink now. 109 cases made.
Showing a unique rosy, purplish hue upon full ripeness, this “white” variety is actually born out of a mutation of Pinot Noir. The grape boasts two versions of its name, as well as two generally distinct styles. In Italy, Pinot Grigio achieves most success in the mountainous regions of Trentino and Alto Adige as well as in the neighboring Friuli—all in Italy’s northeast. France's Alsace and Oregon's Willamette Valley produce some of the world's most well-regarded Pinot Gris wine. California produces both styles with success.
Where Does Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio Come From?
Pinot Gris is originally from France, and it is technically not a variety but a clone of Pinot Noir. In Italy it’s called Pinot Grigio (Italian for gray), and it is widely planted in northern and NE Italy. Pinot Gris is also grown around the globe, most notably in Oregon, California, and New Zealand. No matter where it’s made or what it’s called, Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio produces many exciting styles.
Tasting Notes for Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio is a dry, white wine naturally low in acidity. Pinot Grigio wines showcase signature flavors and aromas of stone fruit, citrus, honeysuckle, pear and almond. Alsatian styles are refreshing, expressive, aromatic (think rose and honey), smooth, full-bodied and richly textured and sometimes relatively higher in alcohol compared to their Italian counterpart. As Pinot Grigio in Italy, the style is often light and charming. The focus here is usually to produce a crisp, refreshing, lighter style of wine. While there are regional differences of Pinot Grigio, the typical profile includes lemon, lime and subtle minerality.
Pinot Grigio Food Pairings
The viscosity of a typical Alsatian Pinot Gris allows it to fit in harmoniously with the region's rich foods like pork, charcuterie and foie gras. Pinot Grigio, on the other hand, with its citrusy freshness, works well as an aperitif wine or with seafood and subtle chicken dishes.
Sommelier Secrets
Given the pinkish color of its berries and aromatic potential if cared for to fully ripen, the Pinot Grigio variety is actually one that is commonly used to make "orange wines." An orange wine is a white wine made in the red wine method, i.e. with fermentation on its skins. This process leads to a wine with more ephemeral aromas, complexity on the palate and a pleasant, light orange hue.
To learn more, see our Essential Pinot Grigio Guide.
Home of the first Pinot noir vineyard of the Willamette Valley, planted by David Lett of Eyrie Vineyard in 1966, today the Dundee Hills AVA remains the most densely planted AVA in the valley (and state). To its north sits the Chehalem Valley and to its south, runs the Willamette River. Within the region’s 12,500 acres, about 1,700 are planted to vine on predominantly basalt-based, volcanic, Jory soil.