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.

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