2021 Belle Pente Pinot Gris

Belle Pente (bell-pont) translates to "beautiful slope", a fitting description for the 70 acre vineyard & winery run by the husband & wife team of Brian & Jill O'Donnell in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA of Oregon's Willamette Valley. Inspired by the great wines of Burgundy and Alsace, they established Belle Pente in 1994 and released the first vintage a couple years later. Even though they have a reputation for producing exceptional pinot noir (it's 2/3 of their production), they also make some killer white wines including this 2021 Pinot Gris. Representative of their "house style" and a proper ode to Alsace, this Pinot Gris is rich with ripe fruit and a long, clean finish. Grapes were fermented in a combination of 40 year old German oak casks (80%) and stainless steel tanks (20%), then aged sur lie for 10 months. Only 196 cases were produced. This style of pinot gris is a great match for roast chicken or pork and creamy, rich dishes but it's also quite a nice pairing with Asian food. In fact, we enjoyed it with rice noodles, shiitakes & bok choy in a mushroom broth but feel free to go spicier with your choice, this wine can handle it.