Pinot Gris

At the crack of dawn this morning our pinot gris arrived from the Del Rio Vineyard in southern Oregon. We whole-cluster press our pinot gris, meaning that the entire bunch of grapes goes into the press. This process, while very time consuming, yields a more brilliant and explosively fruity pinot gris. Many people are surprised to find out that the pinot gris grapes we use to make a white wine are almost as dark as our pinot noir grapes.  Pictured left are pinot gris grapes just before they go into the press. Above the crush crew sorts the pinot gris as it is loaded into the press.