NZ Pinot Gris

The Main Divide is the name of the Southern Alps in the South Island, which forms the backbone and divides each coast. It's also the name of a range of wines made by Pegasus Bay in North Canterbury, using 100% locally grown grapes.

The aim here is to make an Alsatian style of Pinot Gris. Grapes were picked at various stages of ripeness to create a wine with a broad flavour spectrum. All grapes were then fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures to preserve fruit aromas. The ferment was stopped to allow the wine to retain 10 grams per litre of residual sugar, creating an off dry, medium bodied, super flavoursome style of Pinot Gris. 

The wine was matured for a short time on its yeast lees (sur lie) pre bottling. 

Light and golden in colour. Fresh aromas of pear, toasted pine nuts, and lifted Turkish delight awaken your senses. Textured, structural, dry, fresh stone fruit roasted almond flavours mingle with fresh thyme and wild fennel. This multi-layered Pinot Gris is opulent yet clean, bright and juicy. The wine?s poised, beautiful texture leads to a well-balanced, persistent finish.

Here's a Pinot Gris that tastes noticeably drier than many and is all about fresh pure, white fruit flavours of pear and peach. The refreshing acidity comes from the cooler climate grapes contained in the wine, which is made from a blend of grapes grown in three sub regions of Marlborough. The cool climate Awatere Valley has 73% with the remaining 17% from the Waihopai Valley and 10% from Kekerengu on the southern coast.

Grapes were fermented at cool temperatures to preserve fruit freshness and dry flavours. 

Residual sugar is 3.8 grams, making it dry in style - and also in flavour. 

The story of Astrolabe

Diversity, history and family ownership are among the reasons to try the outstanding range of wines from Astrolabe, which was founded in 1996 in Marlborough by winemaker Simon Waghorn and his partner in life and wine, Jane. 

Simon has forged a reputation for being one of New Zealand's most respected producers of aromatic white wines after winning an almost embarrassingly long string of awards for his Sauvignon Blancs. He has also forged a name for adventurously diverse winemaking - he produces dry flinty whites from the most southern vineyard in Marlborough at Kekerengu on the coast about an hour's drive south of Blenheim. He is the only winemaker to produce wines from here. 

He is also one of the few in this country to make Albarino, Chenin Blanc and a consistently outstanding range of wines from the organically certified hillside sloping site that is the Wrekin Vineyard in Marlborough. 

The winery remains family owned and is now run by two generations, including Simon and Jane as well as their adult daughters. 

Pear, lime zest, almond and cream soda on the nose accentuated by an intense mineral character. A very aromatic Pinot Gris with fantastic cool climate freshness from a notably cool growing season with an intensity coming from the unusually small bunches. The Palate is laden with fruit flavours including many types of pear (Anjou, Williams and Nashi), white peach and citrus. A beautifully textured mid palate is complimented by a vibrant vein of acidity that runs through the wine giving it drive and length. Valli Pinot Gris is great for food pairing, delicious on its own and very age worthy.

Hand picked grapes, indigenous yeast fermentation and time on lees all add the X factor to this dry Pinot Gris from Kumeu River Wines, which has a long standing reputation as the best winery in the region, for good reason.

The winery began life as San Marino Wines in 1944 when Croatian immigrant couple, Mick and Kat? Brajkovich, bought a small property with a vineyard on it. Their descendents now own and run Kumeu River Wines, which produces 250,000 bottles of wine annually from its owns 30 hectares of vineyards in Kumeu and from another 10 hectares, owned by local grape growers. 

We love a dry Pinot Gris and this wine ticks that box beautifully... We're sure you'll love it too.

A little old oak fermentation adds flesh and weight to this medium sweet style of Pinot Gris, which has rich flavours and characterful spicy white pear aromas. This North Canterbury Riesling has residual sugar between 10 and 20 grams per litre, which is beautifully balanced by fresh acidity which adds purity and tension to this lively wine.

This is made from organically certified grapes grown on the banks of the Waipara River in North Canterbury.

The region's cool nights and hot days add length to the ripening season, which makes it easy to ripen grapes with rich flavours. 

* Terrace Edge was named the New Zealand Organic Vineyard of the Year in 2018 and this year was named Aotearoa New Zealand Organic Winery of the Year.

Lifted notes of floral and ripe white peach with succulent flavours of red apple, pear and spice with a refreshingly crisp finish.

In Essential Awatere fashion the finish is lively, crisp and lingering. A delicious wine that brings together ?new world? fruit and ?old world? elegance and minerality.

This is a wonderfully exotic wine with aromas of flowers, pear and melon. The palate has nectarine and tropical fruit richness which is balanced with a smooth refreshing finish. Great on its own this Pinot Gris is incredibly versatile with a variety of food, our favourites being chilled furry peach and red curry mussels.

Vineyard
Fruit for this wine was selected from mature vineyards in the North Island that consistently produce outstanding Pinot Gris grapes. The 2021 vintage has delivered exceptional quality with low yields and a temperate dry growing season producing clean ripe fruit with great flavor intensity.

Winemaking
The focus in the winery is to capture the pure fruit flavours that come in from the vineyard. The grapes were harvested at optimum ripeness then gently pressed and the juice fermented at cool temperatures with selected yeasts to enhance aromatic potential. After ferment the wine rested on lees to enhance mouthfeel before blending and preparation for early bottling.

One of our biggest sellers and easy to see why with its fresh, soft, smooth body and white pear flavours. A lively, lovely off dry Pinot Gris made in a super popular style, offering good value. 

The nose has rich and dense aromatics, that remind me of Magnolia and Michaelia flowers, perfumed but also creamy and filling. It is not easy to detect individually defined aromatics, the nose is more complex and interwoven with ripe fruits and dried fig, marzipan. There is an exuberance and youthfulness that keeps the wine fresh and springy.

On the palate, this wine is all about texture, weight, length and generosity. It is a full-bodied wine that rolls over the palate with lots of creamy, spicey texture on the mid-palate. The wine delivers a highly refined impact experience that lingers for a long time.

You might be surprised with the character and firm presence of this wine. It delivers class with plenty of impact.

WINEMAKING Hand-harvested fruit was pressed the following day, cold. After a light settling, the juice was racked into a large 1000litre oak Cuve, for a spontaneous ferment. The fermentation was long and slow until December, the wine remained in the Cuve until the 2024 harvest started. It was then transferred into a stainless-steel vessel to retain freshness for another 4 months of maturation on lees. 

TECHNICAL INFORMATION Vineyard source(s): McCreanor Vineyard, 37 Princess Street, Martinborough, NZ Harvest dates: 6 April – 11 April       |     Harvest Brix: 26 Brix Alcohol by Volume: 14%     |     pH 3.77      |     TA: 5.4 g/l

Tasting Notes
Nashi pear, nectarine, mead and spice greet the nose with a dry, textural and weighty palate, creating a complex and flavourful wine. Made in a dry style.

Vineyard
Moy Hall & Blue Earth vineyards
From low cropped 22 to 28-year-old vines

Vinification
Whole bunch pressed.

Ata Rangi Pinot Gris is modelled on the classic style of wines from Alsace in France and is made from vines which are now over 23 years old. 

The grapes are fermented in older oak barrels, which provide texture and body to the finished wine, which tastes spicy and has flavours of beeswax, lemon curd and fresh pastry, all of which add complexity and softness to this smooth off dry white from one of Martinborough's first four wineries.

The name Ata Rangi is Maori for dawn sky and was chosen to portray the new beginning that the start of this winery represented for founder Clive Paton in the late 1970s.

If you're looking for an organically certified, approachable white wine, here's a lovely off dry wine with white fleshed pear flavours and a hint of fresh lemon captured in a soft, smooth, dry white for drinking now or soon rather than for cellaring. It will hold its own for two to three years and offers good value for money.