2007 Pinot Gris

"People were suspicious at the beginning of the 2007 harvest," noted Marc Beyer. "With the memory of 2006 fresh in their minds, many of them hurried to pick." At Beyer, in contrast, the team stopped two times for a full week, ultimately bringing in fruit with "great maturity, and very good balancing acidity." Beyer compares the young 2007s to the 2001s. In comparison to the '07s, he said, the 2005s are "a bit bourgeois, like the 2000s." Two thousand six was also a year featuring high grape maturity, noted Beyer: "The wines are full-bodied but there was a lot of rot, and it was crucial to preserve finesse." As is his habit, Beyer showed me a few late-release late-harvest wines, in this case from the 2005 vintage. (HB Wine Merchants, New York, NY) Also recommended: 2007 Sylvaner (86), 2006 Pinot Gris (85), Other wines tasted: 2006 Sylvaner, 2006 Pinot Blanc, 2006 Gewurztraminer.