Venture to the far southeast corner of the King Estate vineyard and you will find Block 2D, one of the oldest blocks on the estate. Planted in 1992 with own-rooted vines, the fruit is always the last picked. The block produced 2.74 tons of fruit in 2021 that were harvested by hand. Grapes from older vines on non-grafted rootstock are slower to ripen, higher in acidity and with lighter yields, so even before the fruit leaves the vineyard this wine is something special.
In the winery, the grapes are whole cluster pressed and then fermented and aged in our concrete “egg” vessel with weekly stirring to mix the settled lees back into the wine. The egg coupled with regular stirring gives the wine added complexity, texture and minerality.
The name is a tribute to the late Rudolf Steiner, who founded the Biodynamic® approach to agriculture a century ago. Certified organic since 2002, King Estate earned Biodynamic status in 2016, holding us to a higher standard of sustainability and making us the largest Biodynamic vineyard in North America. First produced in 2017, Steiner Block Pinot Gris has quickly become a winemaker favorite, often featured at winemaker dinners and other events where lucky guests appreciate not only the quality of the wine but the story behind it.
Steiner Block as an excellent expression of the vineyard, according to Co-CEO and Winemaker Brent Stone. “Cooler growing conditions and 30-year-old vines produce a wine that is brighter with lower alcohol,” he says. “Combined with concrete fermentation and extended sur lie aging, the result is a Pinot Gris that is truly one of a kind.”
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