Quick Review: Blue Grouse Estate Pinot Gris 2018

Blue Grouse Estate Pinot Noir 2018 with wine in glass

This week I’m tasting the Blue Grouse Estate Winery Estate Pinot Gris 2018 from Duncan on Vancouver Island and I would like to say my tasting is a work in progress. The wine was changing in the glass over my initial 10-15 minutes of tasting, and I didn’t think the final arrangement of aromas and flavours settled down yet. Fast forward 24 hrs later, with the wine in my wine storage cabinet the wine, I tasted it again and it was now ready to drink. Let me tell you how the wine changed through my tasting notes.

The Blue Grouse Estate Winery Estate Pinot Gris 2018 is bright medium lemon in colour. It has a clean lighter intensity nose that is evolving. At the very start, it was quite a bit of lemon and pith with some toasty oak on the nose. With 10-15 minutes of air, the toasty aroma increases significantly and there is a touch of stone fruits. A quick check 12 hrs later and still lots of toastiness, the stone fruits are there still but now you can add some crisp apple. Wait for another 12 hrs and the strong toastiness has lessened significantly and you can get ripe pears, apple and other stone fruits on the nose.

The wine is dry with high acidity and tart pronounced citrus flavour along with crisp pear and light oak. You get a light acidic prickle on the tongue and some minerality. It is semi-round when first opened. With the 10-15 minutes of air the tartness lessens a bit, it softens a bit and gets a little rounder, and you get pronounced toast and some stone fruit flavours. After 24 hrs the toastiness drops significantly, you get crisp pears, citrus, some bramble leaf and a hint of vanilla. The wine is also smoother on the palate.

To start it has a medium-plus length finishing with tart citrus, oak, light pepperiness and bramble leaf. With the 10 minutes of air, the finish gets much more toasty. With 24 hours of decanting the toastiness is more subdued and you get the addition of crab apples and pears on the finish. I think that this wine, with its acidity, can age 2-3 years. If you open this wine to drink shortly after buying it, I suggest giving it a longer decant till you detect the toastiness on the nose diminishing.

Rating: – with extended decanting. It softens the acidity and lessens the toastiness in the wine. You get a wine with more pears and crisp apple aromas on the nose and palate and gives you a rounder mouthfeel.

Where Can I Buy These Wines?

There are many private wine shops that sell Blue Grouse wines. You can check for the closest stores to you at this link. If you live on Vancouver Island, you can drop by the winery as well. You can also order their wines via their website.

Their wine can be purchased at: