Fourth Wall - Pinot Gris (Skin Fermented)

Character

Is it orange wine? Is it white wine? Does it matter? Rays of sunshine through a cool autumn breeze. The warmth of 2022 is on display with chamomile, potpourri, toasted pineapple, shiitake mushroom and apple pie. Texturally rich and palpably fresh.

Winery & Winemaker

Riverview Cellars Estate Winery; Alyssa Bator and Nick Salvatore.

Vineyard Origins

From Riverview’s home vineyard along the Niagara River: a half acre plot, planted in 2004, at the back-end of the property on a patch of sandy loam backing onto Concession 1. Harvested early at 21° Brix on September 14^th, 2022.

Behind the Music

The struggle is real on this wine… in the spirit of experifuntivity, the intention here was to try new things while not straying too far from the wonderful results of the 2019 and 2020 vintages. Dry Pinot Gris with ripe fruit, slightly luscious but acid still holding tight.

Five days skin contact during fermentation was enough to achieve perceptible ‘orange’ character; tannins were starting to really become prevalent. However, VQA rules insist on a minimum of 10 days skin contact to qualify as orange wine, and when I foolishly included the five-day detail on the back label, “Skin-Fermented Pinot Gris / Orange Wine” had to legally become “Pinot Gris / White Wine”… c’est la vie!

The majority of this cuvée was raised in stainless steel on fine lees for about two months; 20% was aged for the same time in a 5^th use French barrique. This is the third Fourth Wall Pinot Gris bottling, all from the same site — perhaps the most exciting one yet.