St. Innocent Pinot gris Vitae Springs 2010

Previous vintage notes: The 2009 Pinot gris, Vitae Springs Vineyard has a wonderfully ripe, spicy nose of melon, Asian pear, and Honeycrisp apples with orange peel and sweet citrus blossom notes. Concentrated apple, pear, fresh blossoms and cobbler spices enter your mouth with a fresh sweetness that melds into a rich minerality and a completely dry finish. It is both textural and persistent in the mouth. Backed by great acidity, its great fruit is perfectly balanced by its length and richness in your mouth. It is a great match for salmon, pork, fish, and Asian-influenced foods and dishes with spicy notes. - the winery

Previous Vintage Tasting Notes

2007 Vintage Tasting Notes

Always one of Oregon's best gris's, the Vitae Springs Pinot gris is quite Alsacian in style, with pear, peach, and lychee fruit flavors, lemon flower in the nose, and a refreshing, food oriented clean slatey finish.

From the winemaker: "The fruit and spice aromas are very intense with increased texture on the palate and a clean, lingering finish. The fruit is a mixture of ripe stone fruit and orange rind. Ripe Pinot gris gets a intriguing spice quality that sometimes has an almost chili-like heat."

From the winemaker: "Most of my Pinot gris eggs are in this basket. Six years ago I asked Earl Van Volkinburg, the grower, to quadruple the acreage, and those vines are now in into production. The Vitae Springs Pinot gris used to be the smallest production lot at St. Innocent (one year we only produced 83 cases), but no longer."

"Pinot gris intrigues me because of its unique spiciness. We make two gris - Shea and Vitae Springs Vineyards. Vitae Springs is done in a fruit forward style with no barrel aging. It emphasizes purity of fruit. The wine captivates your nose and mouth with its intriguing balance of fruit and spice. The wine ages beautifully and attains an even greater richness of fruit and viscosity after 4-7 years."