Based on Friulian wines I’d enjoyed years ago, I fancied myself a Pinot Grigio producer, starting back in 1991, and though I made a few wines with that nomenclature that I enjoyed quite a bit, I’m not sure I ever accomplished what I set out to do. Truth be told, I’m not so sure I even know what it was I thought I’d set out to do. Life does seem, though, to have a way of helping us figure that out, if we pay a little attention. The Pinot Gris grapes, in 2006, seemed to be holding up a neon sign proclaiming: “Look here, Steve Edmunds! We are Gris! Not Grigio!” I’m glad I noticed!

FRUIT SOURCE:

Fruit Source: Witters Vineyard, 3400’ elevation, about 15 miles east of Placerville, above Camino. Volcanic clay-loam soils, a gentle slope to the North.

WINEMAKING NOTES:

Winemaking Notes: Grapes picked September 6th, just after sunrise. Whole-cluster pressed into stainless-steel tank, fermented at 55 degrees, without yeast addition until the 15th. Starting Brix was 22.7, pH 3.47, TA: .60. Wine kept on lees until January ’07, bottled under screwcap February 13, 2007.

WINEMAKER'S TASTING NOTES:

Winemaker’s Tasting Notes: It’s a pale gold color, with a startling, fresh nose of nutmeg, Anjou pear, and smoke! A firm back note of iron. The smoke is surprising; I’ve never encountered it in a domestic Pinot Gris before. There’s lovely freshness and nice brightness in the mouth to counter a pleasing, textural sense of fat. Finishes with nut oil, and, smoke, again! Marvelously complex, should be a terrific match for quite an array of dishes—charcuterie, sausages, pork, fowl. Class-A drinker!

• Production: 640 cases produced
• Suggested Retail: Suggested retail $16.00
• Release Date: April 1, 2007

Produced And Bottled By Hook Or By Crook under the direction of Steve Edmunds, winemaker.