Grape Varieties
100% Pinot Gris
Winery
Based in the Awatere to the south east of Marlborough’s Wairau Plains, Yealands Estate encompasses 1,000 hectares of viticultural land (with 500 hectares currently under vine) in the rolling downs of the Awatere Valley, with smaller vineyard blocks near Blenheim. Yealands Estate is the largest vineyard in private ownership in New Zealand and founder Peter Yealands is renowned for his innovative vineyard management techniques and technologies. The winery is Carbon Neutral and the first to be built entirely under the New Zealand Green Building Council's accreditation programme, while the vineyard is sustainably managed. This approach in both the winery and the vineyard is rare in such a large operation.
Winemaker
Tamra Washington
Viticulture
The grapes used for this wine were grown in the Seaview Vineyard. Exposed to some of the toughest growing conditions in Marlborough, including high sunshine and wind, cool nights and low rainfall, the berries produced here are small, thick-skinned and intensely flavoured. The Yealands Estate Pinot Gris 2008 is produced exclusively from the Berrysmith clone (some of the first grown in New Zealand), known for producing smaller, more intensely flavoured bunches.
Winemaking & Maturation
The fruit was hand harvested then whole bunch pressed. The freerun juice was separated, racked and fermented, (a portion of which went into new French oak), utilising a strain of yeast designed to accentuate the Berrysmith texture and flavour. The wine was left on its lees and stirred regularly to enhance texture and mouth feel, then blended.
Tasting Note
Light lemon yellow in colour with a youthful rim. Concentrated and perfumed on the nose, with pear drop and hints of spiced apple. Mouth-filling, silky texture with layers of plump fruit and butter, held together with a refreshing acid structure.
