Valli The Real McCoy Pinot Gris Orange 2022

Accolades:
93/100 – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
93/100 – Stephen Wong MW
95/100 – Paul Edwards, The Western Australian (2021 vintage)
94/100 – James Suckling (2021 vintage)

“This is a skin-contact white wine/orange wine. Exciting. Frankly, I love skin contact Pinot Gris. The 2022 The Real McCoy Gibbston Vineyard Pinot Gris spent approximately four weeks on skins (same as the Pinot Noir), and on the nose, it leads with orange oil, beeswax, white/spring flowers, white pepper, star anise, Campari, rosemary, hints of clove and brine. It is super pretty, and soft(!) in the mouth, with lovely fresh acid that wraps around the phenolics. What a lovely wine. It matured in neutral oak for 11 months, with 100% malolactic fermentation.” – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

“Pale orange-pink with some suspended sediment. Vibrant, zesty nose of pink grapefruit, smoke and pith. The palate builds in weight towards the back, almost creamy before the very fine, chalky grip fills the mouth. Some vanillin oak wrapped around the dried apricot, walnut and kernel flavours. Savoury with lots to chew on but also plenty of fruit. A modern orange wine that will develop nicely in bottle as it gets smoother and richer.” – Stephen Wong MW

Tasting Notes: “The colour of the wine comes from the grape skins and the semi-oxidative handling. The 2022 Real McCoy has a stunning tangerine hue. There are immediately inviting aromas of apricot, peach, and juicy mandarin, with cream soda, wild sage, and delicate white blossom. On the palate there are flavours of ripe stone fruit, citrus, and vanilla. The mouthfeel is both creamy and silky with a lovely hint of fine tannin and lingering acidity at the finish. Delicious on its own, the Real McCoy invites many opportunities for food pairing. We have discovered that this is a great wine for cellaring as the evolution is slow and the wine continues to improve with time.” – Jen Parr

Winemaking Notes: Vintage 2022 is our 8th release of a “skins ferment” Pinot Gris from Gibbston. The combination of this versatile variety with our modern take on an ancient winemaking technique and this beautifully fragrant subregion continues to be a winning one. Experience is also starting to pay dividends. This Valli wine is perhaps the one that most obviously expresses seasonality. Each vintage showcases a consistent, recognizable core that is dressed in intriguingly different vintage characters. The 2022 growing season was naturally low cropping and disease free allowing us to play with higher levels of whole cluster ranging from 27-100% across the four ferments. The bone dry wine went through a full malolactic fermentation and was bottled after 11.5 months in oak. The wine was not fined or filtered so natural sediment may occur. Each year we see a greater sense of place in our Valli Gibbston Vineyard Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris and we continue to see our special place in the Real McCoy Orange Pinot Gris. This reinforces everything we believe about sub regionality and expression of site. The Real McCoy also highlights our intention to embrace the beauty and honesty of seasonality.

Alcohol Volume: 13.5%