TN: A Rarity - Pinot Gris Rosé

WINE TALK
1

Arcane Cellars (at Wheatland Winery) near the Wheatland Ferry, has produced a Pinot Gris Rosé for 2009 from estate fruit, which is surprising if only because of the vineyard’s location in flatlands that are within the 100-year floodplain of the Willamette River - not on a hillside. Most people think pinot gris grapes are green like chardonnay, but they’re in fact a dusty rust color that can tend toward purple when ripe.

This is a snappy, apple-strawberry flavored and nicely acid-balanced wine that was produced by leaving the juice on the skins for two weeks. It’s very pink, leading me to think that they threw some pinot noir into the mix, but they swear it’s all pinot gris. A nice buy at $14. Unfortunately, the label is, well . . . unfortunate. Their “Wheatland” label is probably worse, so I guess we should count our blessings.

2

Is it skin contact color or just adding pinot noir to white pg? If its skin contact, its technically not a rose. It’s an orange wine or a copper wine.

I like the labels.

3

I can’t argue with you on terminology, Carg, but it’s skin contact according to them and the wine is definitely pink, not orange. Either way, it’s tasty.

4

Pete,
What difference does the semantic distinction make?

Suppose they fermented the PG two ways - one with just the pressed juice, the other with skin contact. Why would the latter be called orange instead of red? If they blended, why would this not then be rose? If they skipped the separate fermentations, why wouldn’t it still be rose?

5

In the Tre Venezie its called Ramato. Rame means copper in Italian.

I’ve been make a wine using the metodo ramato since 2005.

My metodo is variant. I do a great deal of work in native tribal groups. Because of my extreme coordination, climbing skills and fearless nature, each year I assist in the eaglet census. We take DNA, blood and microchip the eaglets before they fledge.

After the lab work is done, there’s always quite a bit of eaglet blood left over. You can’t very readily put the leftover eagle’s blood back in the eaglets.

I end up with gallons of the stuff. Then I add the eagles blood to white grigio to create the most beautiful hue. It looks like a blood orange sunset!

6

Jeremy Saville at Bishop Creek did a similar Pinot Gris Rose in '09 as well. Have not tasted out of the bottle yet, but really interesting wine and one I need to track down.

7

When you make white wine from red grapes, its a rose.

When you use skin contact to extract phenolics and color from gris grapes its Orange wine or copper wine.

The definitions were created by my ancestors to settle an ancient dispute that had been running for centuries. Would you risk world peace and question my definitions?

8

Brilliant Carg. [cheers.gif]

9

Thanks for the clarification. My wife is a fan of both Pinot Gris and rosé, now we can have both in the same bottle.

10

World peace always rests on semantics, right?

11
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They sell this stuff at the Beaverton Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, so you can save yourself a trip to Wheatland. They may be at the Saturday PSU and other Portland farmer’s markets but I’m not sure.

13

Palmina makes a delicious Pinot Gris Ramato. Worth looking out for.

14

There are a number of pinot gris rose wines made from the Loire. They are made exactly as you have suggested, allowing longer contact with the skins. Of course Pax makes a pinot gris he ferments on the skins as well, but does not call it rose.