Prophets Rock Vin de Paille 2021 37.5cl

One spot – Home vineyard – Pinot Gris. Elevation of home block gives more acidity. There is no botrytis here and late harvest isn’t possible due to cold temperatures but the lack of humidity suits the ‘drying style’ of making sweet wines.

Picked same time as the estate Pinot Gris. As grapes are dried sugar increases as does acidity due to loss of water. Paul is keen to eliminate double handing so the grapes are picked straight into the same trays as they will dry in (if you damage the skins you risk mould). Dried in bunches inside in the trays. Every week the stack is changed in order and each tray is hand sorted every week to check for mould. Drying for approx 30 to 45 days. Pressed into seasoned barrel.

Wild Ferment – takes along time due to the high sugar levels, have to keep the barrel in a ambient area due to the region getting cold. 10 to months on lees. Bottled – Approx – 160 to 170 RS.

“This ancient approach to making dessert wine was extensively researched and first made at Prophet’s Rock in 2016. Since then, it has become a very small but iconic part of our range. Written records of this wine style go back to at least 800 BC. A reference cool-climate region still producing this style is the Jura in France, which Paul visited as part of the research phase. The handpicked fruit is then dried on racks for an average of over two months. Extensive sorting and rotation of the fruit takes place over this time. The naturally dehydrated grapes are then slowly whole-bunch pressed and fermented using only indigenous ‘wild’ yeast. The long, slow fermentation (up to 13 months) takes place in neutral oak barrels and the wine is matured on its yeast lees until bottling” – Paul Pujol – Winemaker