Pearl Morissette 'Irrevérence' 2022

Pearl Morissette's fifth vintage of what has become a much-beloved cuvée, and it just keeps getting more interesting. They've called it "mercurial", as it shifts and changes, never quite letting you pin it down. A blend of Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Viognier, and Gewürztraminer, because why choose just one when you can have all five doing a chaotic yet beautiful thing together?

The grapes come from multiple vineyards (Knizat, Redfoot, Hillside, Saunders, Home Farm). They were sorted by hand, pressed whole-cluster, fermented separately. Riesling spent time in foudre and concrete. Chardonnay in concrete. Pinot Gris in demi-muids. Then the wild part: Viognier, Gewürztraminer, and a portion of the Riesling were isolated and spent eight months on their skins in qvevri (the Georgian buried clay vessels!) before being pressed and returned to foudre for more aging. That's 20% of the final blend getting the full skin-contact treatment, which explains a lot about what's happening in this bottle.

Lemon pith, white flowers, a whisper of spice, that textural grip from the skin contact, all held together by a spine of electric acidity. It's generous. It's mischievous. It's irreverent!!