Eyrie Vineyards - Pinot Gris Estate Dundee Hills 2021

Price: $34.99

Sale Price: $32.99

Sold Out

Request this Item

Producer	Eyrie Vineyards
Country	United States
Region	Oregon
Subregion	Dundee Hills
Varietal	Pinot Grigio (Pinot Gris)
Vintage	2021
Sku	12107643
Size	750ml

   

WA

94

Here's a wine I know you are going to love! A perfect summer white from one of my favorite Oregon producers, iconic Eyrie Vineyards. I have been selling their wines since I got my start in the business - and that is a long time! (Over 40 years!) 

Fresh, vibrant, clean with lovely pear tinged fruit, it works with all kinds of summer fare and it's great all on its own on a sultry summer afternoon or evening. 

Founded by visionary winemaker David Lett and his wife Diana in 1966 when they planted vineyards in the Red Hills of Dundee, about 30 miles SW of Portland. The name Eyrie (EYE-ree) was from the hawks who made their home in the trees surrounding the vineyards.  near the top of their original vineyard plantings. 

These were the first plantings of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and related varieties in the Willamette Valley, and the first Pinot Gris in America. The winery was built in nearby McMinnville and the first vintage to be produced and bottled was the 1970. And just five years later, in 1975, The Eyrie Vineyards produced the first American Pinot Noir to compete successfully with the renowned Pinot Noirs of Burgundy. (Paris, 1979; Beaune, 1980). Talk about ahead of his time!

Today his son Jason runs the winery, and as good as the Eyrie wines have been, I think the new generation has taken them to an entirely new level. There is a little more polish and class, precision, without losing the character the wines are known for.

The vineyards are all certified organic, with fruit for this wine coming from the original Eyrie vineyard, Sisters, Rolling Green, Daphne, and Tukwilla Vineyards. Soils are Jory and Woodburn, the vines are non-irrigated, own-rooted, and Guyot-trained. They use no herbicides, systemic chemicals or insecticides. Vineyard floors are maintained with a native cover and no tillage. Grapes are hand harvested.

Eyrie treats their Pinot Gris with kid gloves, seeing it as one of the Flagship wines, with the same respect as they do their Pinot Noir. Low yields give intensity, depth and concentration, the grapes are destemmed and undergo a long (4 hour) cycle in a basket press to dejuice. The wine is allowed to follow natural fermentation curves in small stainless tanks, with aging in neutral oak and stainless steel tank

94 Points, The Wine Advocate - "The 2021 Estate Pinot Gris is savory and expressive, offering aromas of mushroom powder, apple pie, lilac and flint and opening to honeyed bass tones as it spends time in the glass. The medium-bodied palate is bursting with honeyed, nutty fruit framed by rounded acidity, and it finishes long and pleasantly grippy."