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Roots Wine Company 2017 Pinot Gris
The roots run deep for wine & family
For Chris Berg, winemaking is really all about family.
Growing up in Wisconsin, he didn’t really know what he wanted to be when he grew up. But when his parents moved to Oregon to run a manufacturing plant, he followed and helped them with their other dream – making wine.
Together they found a piece of land in Yamhill-Carlton and planted seven acres of Pinot Noir on their twenty-acre property. And Roots Wine Company was born.
Fast forward to today, Chris, his wife Hilary, and their son live on the vineyard. They opened a small, but gorgeous tasting room a few years back and last year opened a full-fledged winery on site, making it even easier for work and family!
Chris’s mom still helps out and can be found in the Roots tasting room most days, graciously welcoming guests, dogs, and kids who are enthralled by the old school Pac-Man machine in the corner (no quarters required!)
Cellar 503 Tasting Notes
Roots Wine Company, Yamhill, Oregon
2017 Pinot Gris
Pinot Gris is a hard wine to describe. When sommeliers face their final, blind-tasting exams, they live in fear of Pinot Gris. In fact, many learn to identify Pinot Gris through process of elimination, through the characteristics it doesn’t have.
Chris Berg his Pinot Gris on a high ridge at the organic Roots vineyard, exposing the grapes to late evening sunlight during the peak summer months, given his wine a rich texture.
This Roots Pinot Gris opens with floral and honey notes on the nose. You’ll taste pear and apricot, with a subtle acidity that brightens things up a bit. Fermented with natural yeast in 50% steel and 50% neutral oak, it has a rounded complexity on the palate that’s a bit unusual for Pinot Gris. There’s also a hint of salinity to go with the minerality that’s often found in Pinot Gris.
As for food pairings? Well, the night I tried it, we had a salmon on the grill. Now that’s early summer perfection!
A Cellar 503 selection in April 2019, Slow Wine Movement Yamhill-Carlton | Pinot Gris
