Lots of disappointing Pinot Gris in Australia. Lots. Too much. It’s a variety that is often more commercial reality rather than a serious wine endeavour (which is shit).
Thankfully, this Crittenden Estate Peninsula Pinot Gris 2021 is not shit. Why? Because it has been made a little (welcome) care.
Hand harvested, whole bunch pressed and fermented wild, before spending 10 months on lees. This has a nice shape to it – ripe pear fruit, with just a twist of pear fruit sweetness before a dry finish. It’s plump and generous enough, crisp enough, varietal enough. Enough of enough to be enjoyable. It needs a bigger bang through the middle and back palate for more points, but the whole mouthfeel and profile makes this good.
Incidentally, this was the winner of Best Gris at the Mornington Peninsula Wine Show, although I didn’t know that until post-tasting. The regional shows get it wrong less often, don’t they?
Best drinking: nowish. 17.7/20, 92/100. 13%, $34. Crittenden Estate website. Would I buy it? Worth a few glasses.
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4 Comments
“The regional shows get it wrong less often, don’t they?”
That depends if the groupthink judging clique has been kept away or embraced…. Read into that what you will
Also it’s seriously important to have local associate judges at regional shows there to keep the judges within the realms of reality.
Moreover you just need to look at the medal hit rates for gris/Grigio at Australian wine shows and it’s clear there is an evident disdain that the judging establishment have for the variety and it’s a travesty to be honest.
Interesting comments. For me it’s a varietal I struggle to love in an Australian context. There’s only a handful I’d buy and they all tend to emphasise a skin-contact style – Ravensworth, Lethbridge and Hoddles Creek. Most others I’d actively try and avoid tbh
The groupthink challenge is perpetual. As you say, it requires diverse judging and for senior judges to park their egos.
I’d argue the medal hit rate for Gris and Grigio is reflective of how few makers take the variety seriously.
I’ve judged those classes, and perpetually it’s a demoralising experience full of flavourless wines, punctuated by occasional phenolic issues and unbalanced sweetness.
Super interesting comments so far. As a winemaker of what we intend to be cerebral high altitude true Gris style, it’s infuriating to see just the insipid glossed over class comments in wine shows for the Gris/Grigio classes. It always looks like they throw them in as a warm up class or an end of the day let’s get this out of the way class.
It’s one of the reasons we don’t waste our wine and money chasing bronzes in most wine shows.