Prophet’s Rock Pinot Gris 2022
- Vintage
- 2022
- Country
- New Zealand
- Region
- Central Otago
- Size
- 750ml
- Grapes
- Pinot Gris
Pinot Gris has always been a strong focus for Prophet’s Rock. We farm our aromatic whites to the same high standard in the vineyard as our top Pinot Noir and take time through all aspects of production to ensure that the wine we release is the best reflection of the site it can be.
The grapes for this wine are hand-picked from our estate vineyards with the predominate source being the Rocky Point Vineyard. This site has warm free-draining, predominantly schist soils with some of the steepest planted blocks in Central Otago.
Extensive canopy and crop management is carried out during the growing season to ensure the grapes attained full physiological ripeness with great concentration, aromatics, and flavour. Yields on all sites are kept very low and do not exceed 38hl/ha or 5t/ha.
The handpicked fruit is 100% whole-bunch pressed over 5-6 hours and fermented using only indigenous ‘wild’ yeast in old barrels. Fermentation typically takes 3-4 months and the finished wine is then aged without racking on gross lees until bottling just before the following vintage. The wine is bottled under Diam cork. - Winemaker's Notes
Prophet's Rock is a winery in the Central Otago region in New Zealand's South Island. The winery is primarily known for producing Pinot Noir alongside Riesling, Pinot Gris and a dessert wine.
The winery was founded in 1999 and predominantly uses two key vineyards, the Prophet's Rock Home Vineyard and Rocky Point. Although both are based on steep slopes, the Home Vineyard is a medley of schist, clay and chalk, while Rocky Point is stony with steep slopes.
The estate has a strong association with France. Owner and winemaker Paul Pujol, though a New Zealander, has worked in the Languedoc, Sancerre, Burgundy and Alsace. The latter two were especially influential in his approach.
Furthermore, the key winemaking decisions for the Cuvée Aux Antipodes Pinot Noir are made by Francois Millet, the eminent winemaker of Comte Georges de Vogüé. The wine has a more pronounced tannic backbone than Pujol's range topping Retrospect bottling.
The Infusion bottling is another rather unusual wine. It is lighter and brighter than many Pinot Noirs from the region and can be drunk lightly chilled. - Information from Wine Searcher