Lake Chalice The Nest Pinot Gris 2024
£11.95
The wine
Aromas of freshly cut pear mingle with peach undertones on this softly textured Pinot Gris. The palate is beautifully balanced, with layers of ripe pear, peach, passion fruit and a touch of spice on the finish.
Pinot Gris is Marlborough's third grape and a useful one, giving orchard fruit and texture where Sauvignon gives cut. It is a pink-skinned mutation of Pinot Noir, and brief skin contact can lend a faint copper tinge. The Nest is Lake Chalice's entry tier, named for the youngest stage of the falcon's life.
The producer
Lake Chalice
View all Lake Chalice winesLake Chalice was established in 1989, early in Marlborough's history, with the aim of making internationally recognised wine from the heart of the region. The estate's three vineyards lie in the Wairau and upper Awatere valleys, the two river systems that define Marlborough and that ripen quite differently from one another.
New Zealand's native falcon, the kārearea, appears on every bottle. It is a threatened bird, faster than a peregrine over short distances, and it favours the remote foothills where these vineyards sit. Some Marlborough growers have encouraged falcons back into the vines deliberately, since they keep smaller birds off ripening fruit far more effectively than netting.
The range is tiered by the falcon's life stages, which makes it unusually easy to navigate: The Nest for the everyday wines, then The Falcon, then The Raptor for the single-vineyard bottlings, and Plume at the top. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc runs through all of it, alongside Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and a little Riesling.
