Vincent Skin Contact Willamette Valley Pinot Gris 2023

Note from the winemaker: “This is Gris made like a red wine, inspired by Cameron Winery locally and Josko Gravner from afar. Natural fermentation on the skins for 18 days, pressed at dryness, settled and racked into older French oak barrel and puncheon (500L casks) for a year. No filtering. The result is a light red wine with tons of peppery personality, it honestly makes me think of old school Grenache-based Cotes du Rhone, with some grip and pepper earthy notes amid red cherry fruit. Not the heat of Grenache and with more acidity, but it's fun and gluggable.”

Owner and winemaker Vincent Fritzsche launched his winery in 2009 after years of working at other wineries in Oregon and California. He sources fruit from several sustainably farmed vineyards in the Willamette Valley. The name, Vincent, is of course the owner’s name, but also the name of his uncle and maternal grandfather, and pays homage to the 4th century Saint Vincent of Saragossa, Spain, the patron saint of vintners. Formerly a member of Portland’s Southeast Wine Collective (tasting is still available here), the winery is now located at Grochau Cellars in the Eola-Amity Hills near McMinnville. All of the wines are fermented using native yeast. Vincent sulfurs minimally, with the view that SO2 is similar to a camera lens. “It can help bring what’s there into better focus and clarity, rather than adding something that doesn’t need to be there. I don’t use it as an extractive or color stabilizing device.” All wines are bottled unfiltered.