Santa & D’Sas 2023 Pinot Grigio

Pattern Range

Pinot Grigio is the Italian name for the French variety Pinot Gris. The crisp Pinot Grigio style from Northern Italy is picked early to produce a fresh and racy wine with an underlying mineral backbone of acidity.The Santa & D’Sas Pinot Grigio has been made to reflect the Italian expression of this grape variety.

HIDE

Medium crimson in colour with purple hues. Lifted aromas of plums, red currants and boysenberries burst from the glass combined with an attractive dried herb and spice lift. The generous palate allows soft tannins to glide over the mid palate along with flavours of plum, blackberry and blackcurrent. This is an expressive, fresh and plush Merlot with a refined finish.

Tasting Note

“Crisp and crunchy – just the way pinot grigio should be – with a juicy, fresh-cut green apple and nashi pear restraint. Remains clean and taut throughout with an attractive saline mineral tang. What’s not to like?” JP. Halliday Wine Companion

Food

Match of the vintage: Risotto Primavera.

Region

The King Valley is one of Australia’s most exciting, emerging wine regions. It is located in North East Victoria – approximately three hours North of Melbourne and seven hours South of Sydney. Home to the most picturesque and unspoilt valley in Australia, King Valley benefits from a cool climate with extremely varied terrain, that ranges from snow-capped Alps to sun baked fields.

The Season

The 2023 growing season started quite wet but it seemed to rain at the right times then as vintage approached with cool but near-perfect ripening conditions along with balanced crop loads. This has allowed us to make wines of varietal intensity, purity, balance and longevity.

Winemaking

The fruit for the 2023 Pinot Grigio was picked in early March at 11.5° baumé. The grapes were picked in the early morning, pressed off skins into tank for fermentation with high solids to provide complexity and texture while still retaining fresh flavours. Once in tank, alcoholic fermentation with a high solids content at a constant 12°C was completed slowly over 4 weeks. This allowed retainment of fresh aromas and flavours while providing creamy texture and mouthfeel. A small proportion was fermented with wild yeasts in older French oak barriques to add front palate richness and extra dimension. The wines was left on yeast lees with weekly stirring to protect the freshness of the wine and adding further complexity. The wine was bottled under screwcap.

Analysis

Alcohol 12.8% v/v, pH 3.11, TA 6.76 g/L, RS <1 g/L.

Packaging

750mL, 12 bottles per case