Rabbit Island Nelson Pinot Gris 2023

Vineyard: Seifried Brightwater and Rabbit Island vineyards
Sugar at Harvest: 21.6°Brix
Date of Harvest: Mid - late March 2023
pH of Wine: 3.49
T.A of Wine: 8.4g/L
Residual Sugar of wine: 6g/L
Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans: Yes

The 2023 Rabbit Island Nelson Pinot Gris is a blend of two of our Pinot Gris vineyard blocks. This allows us to take advantage of the varying clones and nuances each of these sites offers.

The Brightwater vines are grown in an extremely stony area of the vineyard where water and nutrient levels are low. This helps us to restrict plant vigour and to crop at low levels. Our Brightwater vineyard is situated 15 km from the coast and is sheltered from the south by the Richmond ranges. The ‘soil’ is a combination of rocks and boulders which is very hard on farm equipment but vital for holding the warmth of Nelson’s sun and for ripening the Pinot Gris grapes.

Our Rabbit Island vineyard is situated on a wide river flat. The soil is gravelly sandy loam, which is very free-draining. This vineyard is about 1.5 km from the sea, which helps moderate temperatures.

We used separate parcels of Pinot Gris from our loamy/sandy Rabbit Island and our stony Brightwater vineyards to blend a juicy wine. The wine pulls together fruit from our varying estate vineyards to make a lovely easy-drinking Pinot Gris.