Giesen Vineyard Selection Pinot Gris

Giesen Vineyard Selection Pinot Gris blends fruit from Marlborough and Waipara - Marlborough for aromatic lift, Waipara for texture and roundness - into a gently off-dry style built for easy drinking. The 2024 vintage came through a tricky, El Niño-driven season, with early frosts and patchy flowering trimming yields in both regions, but a near-perfect autumn harvest more than made up for it, delivering fruit with real purity and concentration. Expect juicy pear and peach with a soft almond-meal note, a calm creamy edge and a touch of spice running into a fresh, off-dry finish. Two months on lees before bottling gives it more texture than a simple drink-now Pinot Gris. A reliable glass for a weeknight, honestly.

What the winery says:

Vineyard Selection Pinot Gris draws fruit from Marlborough and Waipara, giving Marlborough's aromatic lift alongside Waipara's texture and roundness. The 2023/24 growing season shifted into an El Niño pattern that brought dry conditions to the east of the country; early frosts and unsettled flowering reduced yields in both regions, but a near-perfect autumn delivered fruit with real purity, concentration and balance. In the winery, the juice gets short skin contact before fermenting in stainless steel with selected aromatic yeasts to lift intensity, with the ferment stopped early to leave a touch of natural sugar and set the off-dry style. Two months on lees adds mouthfeel before blending and bottling. It comes in at 12.5% ABV, pH 3.65, TA 5g/L and residual sugar of 5.6g/L, and Giesen suggests pairing it with a roasted pear and feta tart alongside a fresh seasonal salad.