Pinot Blanc
This white grape variety is a close relative of Pinot Noir though rare by comparison in New Zealand. Pinot Blanc is versatile and responds well to different winemaking approaches. Tank fermented it can be aromatic, fruit-driven and fresh while barrel fermentation nudges it in the direction of Chardonnay.
We have chosen the latter approach for the Hope Vineyard Pinot Blanc. Fermented and aged for an extended period in seasoned, larger format French oak, the style shows gentle spiciness, creamy texture and complexity of flavour.
Today we harvest some or all of this fruit at slightly lower sugar levels than we once did in an effort to retain freshness and moderate alcohol levels. As a result is a style which shows a little less breadth and power but more elegance, nuance and delineation.
2023 Hope Vineyard Pinot Blanc
“Pure, fresh and ripe with scents of green pear and apple, there’s a faint flinty quality immediately before aromas of mineral water and wet stone, white flowers and a fine lees quality. Equally youthful as the wine touches the palate with flavours of quince, tart pear, lemon and apple flavours. There’s a light lees quality and floral lift on the finish. Well made, dry and lengthy with a saline finish. Best drinking from 2025 through 2034.” 93 Points Cameron Douglas, April 2024
“Greenhough is just a handful of wineries working with the variety and makes an attractive example that’s rich and creamy textured with notes of apple, white fruits, spice and nut and finishes with a fresh zing of citrus.” Jo Burzynska, Viva
We manage it as we do its cousin, Pinot Noir, removing third bunches and shoulders to reduce yields and promote evenly ripened fruit. Low yields are essential to concentration and palate weight. Hand harvest allows exclusion of damaged or unhealthy bunches and wider options for handling in the winery. Fruit is whole bunch pressed and the juice briefly settled to remove the heaviest solids before racking to seasoned 500 litre French oak puncheons for wild fermentation. The wine is matured on yeast lees for an extend period of 16-18 months.
As the wine opens, aromas are strikingly perfumed with an exotic quality. Ripe fresh pears, baked apple, guava, and star anise. There’s also a mealy richness from extended time on yeast lees. The palate begins with fleshy stone fruits, appealingly soft and sweet-edged and enhancing a rounded mouthfeel. This progresses to more subdued fruit characters integrated with subtle nutty, spicy layers and flinty minerals related to extended time in barrel. There is an expansive vibrancy towards the end with liquorice/aniseed spice and gentle phenolic interest which draws the palate out. This is a powerful wine with an intriguing interplay between the soft opulence of ripe fruits and a pervasive mineral clarity and mantle of velvety phenolics.
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