By harvest time, we have a pretty good idea of the quantity and quality of grapes we can expect from our “gray” version of Pinot Noir. With this information we can then decide what style of wine we should craft from each vineyard site. Navarro's Pinot Gris grapes come from four vineyard blocks and this year we decided that the fruit from a younger block, planted in 2009, was the best candidate for Navarro's 2016 Grigio. Italian winemakers pick Pinot Gris less ripe than their Alsatian counterparts when the acidity is still high to create a light, dry, refreshing wine whose flavors are frequently described as mineral or lemony with aromas that suggest green apple. Harvesting our Pinot Gris grapes early is exactly what we did for this 2016 Grigio bottling. We harvested fruit from the “new block” on August 22 and then again on August 26, so that we would have two slightly different wines that could form the central element for this year's blend. Grapes for Navarro's Gris style were picked later, in September, when the fruit had achieved more ripeness but retained less acidity.
A weekday morning staff tasting. Evaluating the various vineyard lots and creating blends from these lots can be a lot of fun.
Removing a second shoot before flowering. When pruning, we leave a specific number of buds on each vine to determine the theoretical crop level; in the spring each bud will typically produce one shoot with two grape clusters. Frequently the buds will produce two shoots, each with two clusters; we remove the extra shoots as they would overload the vine with unwanted fruit.
After destemming and pressing the grapes, the juice from each picking was cold-fermented in stainless steel followed by a short rest in seasoned French oak barrels. In a series of three tastings, we selected a cuvée between the two Grigio harvests with a small addition from our Gris harvest to complete the flavor profile. Anderson Valley's climate, like Alto Adige in Italy, has warm days and chilly nights; wine grapes grown here feature high natural acidity and aromatics. We bet you'll like the results of the early harvest which created our crispest Grigio since 2009.
Gold Medal winner. Best of Class.