2023 Valli Vineyards The Real McCoy Orange Wine

The Real McCoy is Valli’s skin-fermented Pinot Gris, made from fruit grown in Alexandra. The grapes were hand-picked and fermented on skins for around three weeks before being pressed and matured in old oak barrels. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered to keep the texture and detail of the fruit.

The 2023 season gave clean, balanced fruit with good acidity – ideal for this style. The wine shows citrus peel, dried apricot and gentle spice, with a firm, chalky grip from the skins. It’s dry, structured and a touch savoury, sitting neatly between white and light red.

More about texture and food pairing than novelty, it’s a clean, well-made expression of skin-fermented Pinot Gris that still feels very much like a Valli wine.