Careful balance and commitment leads to Champion Pinot Gris Trophy

Careful balance and commitment leads to Champion Pinot Gris Trophy

Rapaura Springs Reserve Pinot Gris 2023 has won the Label and Litho Champion Pinot Gris at the 2023 Marlborough Wine Show, sponsored by QuayConnect.

It’s the second year in a row Rapaura Springs has been recognised at the awards, last year taking the trophy for the champion current vintage Chardonnay.

Winemaker Michael Bann says the company has a non-negotiable commitment to quality from the vineyard right through to the winery. He tells how this commitment is continuously helping them to achieve quality, award-winning wines…

 Congratulations on winning the Champion Pinot Gris trophy at the Marlborough Wine Show this year. Can you tell us a bit about what makes this wine special?

Thank you. Our Reserve Pinot Gris is made from several subregions across Marlborough, including Blind River, Rapaura and Taylors Pass. The depth and variety of flavour and fruitfulness sets this wine apart. It is balanced and the aromatics just pop in the glass, the flavours on the palate are ripe and lingering.

Was there anything in particular about the 2023 vintage that made it a stand out?

The weather was variable, but the settled period coming into harvest allowed the vines to ripen fruit optimally, achieving fantastic fruit flavours and sugar/acid balance. We are always aiming for balance in our wines, and I think this is an example of when we get things 100% right.

Last year, you won the current vintage Chardonnay trophy with the Rapaura Springs Single Vineyard Bouldevines Vineyard Chardonnay 2020. You’re clearly doing well at producing award-winning wines across the board at Rapaura Springs. Marlborough has long been known for its Sauvignon Blanc - is it a focus of Rapaura Springs to perhaps push the boundaries a bit and explore possibilities beyond Sauvignon Blanc? If so, why?

We don’t cut corners, and we spend money to ensure we make the best wine possible. By that I mean, we have state-of-the-art equipment in the winery and vineyards and have adapted modern winemaking techniques to achieve our goals. As a team we are 100% focused on making the best wines we can across the board, and continually look for ways to improve. We work closely with our growers and vineyard teams to always get the best fruit into the winery, and we consistently trial and adjust techniques to achieve the best possible result, so our winemaking stays fluent.

What do you think makes a great Pinot Gris and what makes Marlborough a great place to achieve this?

Marlborough’s generally settled weather and the diurnal shifts in temperatures across the valley, allow for fruit with ripe flavours with natural acid balance. It's then up to the winemaking team to make the correct picking call. Marlborough is a unique climate, with young fertile soils with an industry full of passionate people, set on making some of the world’s best wines.

We are also lucky to get variations in fruit flavours (a natural fruit salad) due to the subregional characters evident in our different sites. In our Pinot Gris we see white to yellow stone fruit characters, through to ginger, spice and some Turkish Delight.