2025 Pinot Gris
New Release!
Vintage
The 2025 vintage was a high quality and accelerated year that made us thankful for the dual safeguards of diverse vineyard sites and an experienced crew.
Overall, the growing season was steady and uneventful. We had ideal spring weather during budbreak and bloom led to a good fruit-set. Reasonably sized clusters meant below-average crop levels that required very little thinning. It was a moderately early summer with a few heat spells and light rains in August. During the mild September, ripening progressed at a steady pace with very low disease pressure and very few hungry birds. Harvest would come quickly.
At Elk Cove, we were able to extend harvest to a very full five weeks, allowing for additional hang-time and lessening the strain on our crew and cellar. The varied elevations, aspects, and clonal selections of our vineyards help space out ripening, so we could take our time, continuing to bring in fruit long after many of our neighbors were finished. We brought in clean fruit with great concentration due to small berries, small clusters and fewer seeds than average. Those were some very intense five weeks, so we were very thankful for our experienced vineyard crew, several of whom joined us in the cellar for harvest along with winemaking students from Germany, Brazil, Massachusetts and Portland. It was a difficult but rewarding harvest.
Expect precocious 2025 vintage wines with excellent quality and concentration alongside lush, ripe fruit flavors.
Vineyard
Our Pinot Gris is hand-harvested from our estate hillside vineyards in the northern Willamete Valley. Pinot Gris has long been a focus at Elk Cove – our Winery Estate Vineyard boasts some of the oldest Pinot Gris vines in Oregon, dating back to 1985. Three of our other estate vineyard sites are also planted with Pinot Gris, including 50 acres on steep-sloped Mount Richmond Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Planted in a high-density format, all our Pinot Gris undergoes shoot and crop thinning for low yields to maximize quality and concentration.
Winemaking
The Willamette Valley has the perfect climate for this delicate cool weather white wine. We have enough sunlight and warmth for ripening, but our cool evenings help retain varietal character and prevent over-ripening. We whole-cluster press our Pinot Gris grapes, then ferment the juice at very cool temperatures in small stainless steel tanks. This gentle treatment protects the aromatic qualities and enhances the natural richness of the Pinot Gris grapes, creating our most popular white wine.
Viticultural & Enological Data
- Vatting Whole-cluster pressed and cold fermented in small stainless steel tanks.