Blue Grouse Estate Winery Quill Pinot Gris 2021

Deborah Podurgiel WSET IV Candidate rated this wine as 92/100 with the following review:

No rough edges on this dry, smooth, medium-bodied, dangerously drinkable 100% Pinot Gris from the Cowichan Valley. Although seamless, a lot of components came together (and the winemaking stars aligned *(* ) to make up this beautifully-balanced PG that starts with grapes sourced from the oldest vines in the valley, up to 35 years of age, in a variety of silty loam, gravel and sandy soils. Grape yields were also kept low giving this wine a good concentration of pear, fresh apple, honeysuckle, soft citrus, spice and a touch of dulce de leche aromas and flavours, fresh, rounded and silky on the palate with a medium-plus-length minerally finish.

This is the winery’s only white wine that is “kissed by oak.” A portion of the grapes underwent a cool and slow fermentation over a four-week period with spontaneous malolactic conversion and resting a total of eight months in neutral French oak barrels; the other portion was cool-fermented over 20 days in stainless steel tanks, resting on its lees for three months prior to spontaneous malo conversion as well. The wine was cold settled and left on its fine lees for four months and blended with the barrel portion prior to bottling. After bottling, the wine rested for an additional four months prior to release. Tasted August 2022.