Pinot Gris, 2023 Midnite Négoce

-              Fruit sourced from Kevin Watson

-              VQA Four Mile Creek

-              100% Barrel Fermented

-              Wild alcoholic ferment

-              100% malolactic conversion, native bacteria

-              Unfiltered & unfined

Bottled by hand with limited sulphur additions

Last House Vineyard Midnite Négoce Pinot Gris 2023 ($28 available here, 92 points) — Last House proprietor Gagne and veteran County consultant Geoff Heinricks have a proven record for making unique, soulful wines from the small estate vineyard in Hillier. Every step is meticulously hands on, well researched and conducted with as little intervention as possible. They apply that philosophy to this Niagara sourced Pinot Gris with an eye toward the best examples of this grape made in Oregon. The fruit was sourced from Kevin Watson’s vineyard in Niagara’s Four Mile Creek sub-appellation. Fermentation was done in 225 litre oak barrels using a “pied de cuve” wild yeast starter drawn from estate grown Chardonnay. “This worked extremely well,” said Gagne. The wine was aged in barrel for 11 months and bottled by hand. The label design was done by local artist Rosalie Maheux and “reflects our goal to clearly state that this wine was not grown on the estate.” It’s a very different style than what we normally see in Ontario. It has a vivid nose of white peach, guava, apricot, nectarine, lemon curd and elegant spice notes. It has a creamy texture on the palate with subtle reductive/flinty notes followed by ripe tropical fruits, peaches, apricot tart, flint, spice box and citrus zest on a rounded, layered finish.