A favourite of ours: the skin-fermented Craven Pinot Gris. Copper-coloured, uber-aromatic, super-refreshing and straight-up delicious.
In the words of Mick & Jeanine Craven:
“Pinot Gris isn’t exactly an abundant grape planted in Stellenbosch, but it is something we have a lot of fun working with. Although a lot of the wine drinking world think and assume it is a ‘white grape’, it is in fact a lovely coppery/dark rose skinned grape.
“With this being the case, we just can’t waste that colour and delicious flavour trapped in the skins, so we ferment this wine like a red. The 2022 vintage saw a significant change in vinification. This year it was fermented and aged 100% in concrete tanks. The grapes were destemmed into the concrete tanks and given a light pump over once a day for gentle extraction of the lovely rose-coloured hue and chalky tannin. 2022 had such nice, developed tannins that we found only 6 days on skins was sufficient to give ample texture to the wine. The wine was then drained and pressed into the concrete tanks for a further 6 months of elevage.”
Ingredients: Grapes, SO2.
Vitals:
100% Pinot Gris
W.O Stellenbosch Vineyard: Newlands Planting Year: 2007 Grown by: Deon Joubert Soil: “Koffeeklip” Alcohol: 12.05 %
pH: 3.66
Total Acidity: 5.2 g/L”
