SELBACH GRAUBURGUNDER (PINOT GRIS)

Description

The Selbach Oster family have been making wine for the better part of 400 years; and today have just 24 hectares under vine that are among the very best plots in Mosel. Most of their vines remain ungrafted to American rootstock, a rarity these days, and many are approaching 100 years old. This Grauburgunder (the same grape as Pinot Gris/Grigio) comes from the incredibly steep slopes of the Mosel near the town of Zeltingen, where it relies upon the reflections of sunlight off the river below to ripen properly; else it would never ripen at all.

The unique combination of cool-climate and longer sunlight exposure that the Mosel provides yeilds a very interesting style of Pinot Gris. As expected, light, but not anemic or dainty, with a core of melon and citrus notes, a pleasant touch of minerality, and the quintessential focused acidity of wines from the region. K & L Wine Merchants likens it to something of an old-school alsatian Pinot Gris, but it wouldn’t exactly be wrong to draw parallels with Okanagan Pinot Gris either.