Libertine 'Grandma's Gris'
Regular price
Unit price
per
After years of running a successful high end cheese and wine shop, Alex Neely came to a crossroads and chose winemaking. He and his wife Veronica take a philosophical approach..... Shepherds that guide the grapes along their journey of controlled spoilage. In most cases, the wine decides its own character as they do not pigeonhole them into some preconceived notion of what they imagine they should be! They purchases grapes from family owned farms in Willamette Valley that employ sustainable vineyard practices. All of their wines are fermented in neutral oak barrel with native vineyard yeast. They does not add a single thing to them other than a fractional amount of sulfite as a preservative. No filtering or fining, creates a very pure and raw product. This Pinot Gris is a tribute to one of Libertine’s harvest intern’s grandmother. As a kid he remembers running around her garden in Ballard where she grew veggies and all kinds of flowers which she loved to do watercolor studies of. He inherited her sketchbook after she passed and the painting of sweet peas on this label was one of the last she did. She was also known to enjoy some steamed clams with a couple glasses of Pinot Gris. Cheers to Grandma Jacquie! The fruit for Grandma’s Gris came from a colder site in the Lower Long Tom AVA of the Willamette Valley. The fruit is impeccably farmed which is clearly reflected in the wine. After 24 hours of cold maceration, the wine was spontaneously fermented in neutral oak barrel with nothing added except for a fractional amount of sulfite for stability. It is unfined and unfiltered and only had 44 cases produced. A perfect Spring to Summer wine with notes of ripe anjou pear, granny smith apples, peach blossom, fresh thyme & tarragon and whispers of saline ocean air. Try it with a bowl of clams steamed in white wine and herbs and some crusty bread with really good salty butter. You won’t regret it!