SPECIAL PROJECTS SHEPHERD'S PINOT GRIS

WHITE wine
WINE MAKER: Dan Rinke
VINTAGE: 2025
LOCATION: Willamette, Willamette Valley
VINEYARDS: Eola Amity
ASPECT: gentle hills
ALTITUDE: 500 feet 
VINE AGE: 2010
SOIL COMPOSITION: rocky marine sediment, sandstone and shale interspersed with ancient oyster shells
PREVAILING CLIMATE & LOCAL CLIMACTIC: Mediterranean, cold winters
FARMING: certified biodynamic
GRAPE COMPOSITION: Pinot Gris
HARVEST: by hand, 3rd week of September
MACERATION: none
FERMENTATION: Direct press into barrique slow long fermentation.
AGING: 18 months used barrique.
FINING & FILTRATION: None
So2: 15 ppm
ALC: 12.5%
BOTTLED:  2/24/2026
BOTTLES PRODUCED: 600

From the same biodynamic vineyard that our 2025 Thunder Egg comes from in Aola Amity we added a third wine. It is a leesy, no skins Pinot Gris from 2024 that Dan made for shepherd Jared Lloyd owner of Naked Grazin, Jared was paid in grapes by a vineyard client for the weeding and fertilizing services of his flock of sheep. Dan paid for the use of Jared's flock by vinifying the grapes. It is low alcohol, but creamy, electric and spicy. It is a wine that I have been following along for the last year. It has become a rather serious wine with a richness and tension that one might associate with a simple Jura Chardonnay.