PINOT GRIS Qvevri 2014 (Domaine Laurent Bannwarth)

The Pinot Gris Qvevri is an "orange wine", that is to say a white wine vinified like a red one, with the grape skins. Its vinification in Qvevri is unique in France, it uses the Georgian vinification methods practiced for 6000 years.

TERROIR

The Pinot Gris grapes intended for the Qvevri vinification are selected during the harvest and according to their maturity. They come from the different estate plots, including the Bildstoeckle terroir.

The estate has two terroir types :

• The first terroir offers a hundred meters thick marl-limestone soil with very diverse constituents ranging from fine marl to clayey or sandstone marl, limestone sandstone, conglomerates and pebbles. This thick sedimentary layer dates from the end of the Eocene (-33 to -37 million years), it was formed in a lake environment, when the region was completely emerged with lakes left by the Jurassic seas after their withdrawal.

• The second terroir is made up of Loess soil, a light yellow, porous, water-permeable silt of aeolian origin, which deposit took place during the last Quaternary glaciations, two million years ago.

WINEMAKING

The Pinot Gris wine is entirely vinified in Qvevris, that are large buried dolias with a capacity of approximately 1500 liters.

The harvested grapes quality will fully determine the different vinification processes, including the choice to destem or not, and to macerate or not.

The berry tasting is done on the spot, in the vines and during the harvest : only the perfectly matured grapes with a nice balance sugar/acidity are selected for the Qvevris. The skin quality will determine if there is a maceration or not, they must not show any alteration.

Once harvested and severely sorted according to the aforementioned criteria, the grapes are not destemmed because the Pinot Gris stalks give the wine a nice structure. The whole harvest is gently pressed using a pneumatic press and the juice flows directly into the Qvevri. The marc formed by the skins and the pressed stalks is then added directly into the Qvevri with the juice. Alcoholic fermentation starts spontaneously under the native yeasts action, then comes the malolactic fermentation carried out by the lactic acid bacteria. The must remains in contact with the skins for about six months, at the end of which the marc is removed and drained, the wine racked, and the lees removed from the Qvevri. The wine then returned to the same Qvevri and is topped with a young wine of the same quality for an extra 4 months ageing, before being racked again in stainless steel tanks then bottled without filtration, fining or any sulphits addition.

The intially orange color darkens after 24 hours under the oxygenation effect. This phenomenon is normal, there are natural wines. The residual sugar level is 1.5 g/l.

SERVICE ADVISE

Open the bottle 1 hour before the service.