Prophet’s Rock Pinot Gris 2024

Pinot Gris has always been a strong focus for Prophet’s Rock. We farm our aromatic whites to the same high standard in the vineyard as our top Pinot Noir and take time through all aspects of production to ensure that the wine we release is the best reflection of the site it can be.

94 Points.
…fabulously dry and textural, with crushed rocks, white flowers, hints of nashi pear (and pear drops), white tea and brine in the mouth. The wine flows seamlessly from start to finish and is a complex but silky rendition of the variety. It makes sense that Winemaker Paul Pujol has a good sense of the variety, having worked in Alsace at Maison Kuentz-Bas for three years prior to coming to Prophet’s Rock. Fully matured in old oak, the wine is fresh but also very long and lingering—a sure sign that it has a long future in front of it.

Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
writing about the 2022 vintage

The 2024 Pinot Gris jumps out of the glass with aromas of nashi pear, nectarine and orange blossom enveloped by a rich honeycomb note. On the palate, the wine shows a mix of stone fruit and tropical fruits; with crunchy white peach, sweet peckham pear and a zingy pineapple-like acidity creating a lovely balance. The result is a balanced, aromatic Pinot Gris that will is not only moreish on its own, but pairs well with a wide range of cuisine.

Cellar with confidence for 10+ years.

Rocky Point, Bendigo, Central Otago (52%); Kopuwai Vineyard, Pisa, Central Otago (47%); Home Vineyard, Bendigo, Central Otago (1%).

The grapes for this wine are hand-picked from our estate vineyards with the predominate source being the Rocky Point Vineyard. This site has warm free- draining, predominantly schist soils with some of the steepest planted blocks in Central Otago.

Extensive canopy and crop management is carried out during the growing season to ensure the grapes attained full physiological ripeness with great concentration, aromatics, and flavour. Yields on all sites are kept very low and do not exceed 38hl/ha or 5t/ha. n the vineyard this often equates to one bunch maximum per shoot, no shoulders or wings, and a further green-thin at veraison.

The handpicked fruit is 100% whole-bunch pressed over 5-6 hours and fermented using only indigenous ‘wild’ yeast in old barrels. Fermentation typically takes 3-4 months and the finished wine is then aged without racking on gross lees until bottling just before the following vintage.

2024 was a season that produced amazing quality fruit with great concentration and freshness. Marked by a frost in late October, the season seemed to get the right amount of rainfall and warmth at the right times through to the end of harvest. We started by picking in mid-March before cool autumn conditions settled in. This resulted in slow and gradual ripening as we slowly picked block by block until the third week of April. This ‘slow-cook’ late season made for great flavour development, whilst retaining good freshness at moderate potential alcohol.

  • Alcohol 13.5%
  • Residual Sugar 13 g/L
  • Fining Agent: Milk < 0.175
  • Only 51 barrels were made.
  • Harvest dates: Between the 19th of March and the 17th of April
  • Bottling date: 23 January 2025
  • The wine is bottled under Diam cork.
  • Bottle weight 560 g (unfilled)