Bow & Arrow Skin Contact Pinot Gris 2025
We have 12 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
Pinot Gris is a pink-skinned grape, not a white one, and Oregon has been growing it longer than anywhere else in America: David Lett planted the country's first Pinot Gris at The Eyrie Vineyards in the Dundee Hills in 1966. The Willamette Valley runs roughly 150 miles between the Coast Range and the Cascades, with long, dry summers, cool nights and a marine influence that keeps acidity intact well into October. Bow & Arrow sources only from the valley and leans on its working-farm side rather than its prestige hillsides, buying from growers on simpler, clay-dominated soils. That cool, slow ripening is what makes Pinot Gris worth leaving on its skins: the grape keeps enough freshness to carry the color and grip that maceration pulls out.
The Wine
Bow & Arrow Skin Contact Pinot Gris 2025 is an orange wine from the Willamette Valley, fermented on its skins for 30 days and then rested in a single puncheon for about 10 months. A full month of maceration draws copper color, phenolic texture and a light tannic grip from the grape's rosy skins, and the large, old puncheon lets the wine settle and round out without adding oak flavor. The winery describes it as autumnal, with spicy Campari and blood orange. Expect dried apricot, orange peel and rose hip on the nose, then a chewy, bitter-edged mid-palate that recalls an aperitivo, finishing dry with fine tannin and a long citrus-pith tail. A slight chill, not a cold one, shows it best.
The People
This wine started as a family project. Scott Frank first made it under the name Taffy, with a label designed by his seven-year-old daughter, lavender with silver foil arrows, and he built the wine to match her artwork. It now wears a more grown-up label, but the playfulness is still the point. Frank runs Bow & Arrow from an underground winery beneath The Bindery building on Northeast Sandy Boulevard in Portland. His north star is the Loire Valley rather than Burgundy, and the lineup reflects it: Melon, Chenin Blanc, Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc alongside the Pinot. He describes the project as having no single house style, only an emphasis on drinkability and a light hand.
Food Pairing
Orange wine's tannin and bitterness make it a partner for food red wine struggles with. Try a Persian jeweled rice with saffron, barberries and pistachios; the bitter orange edge mirrors the dried fruit. Lamb and apricot tagine with preserved lemon matches the wine's autumnal spice, and a board of aged Gouda, coppa and fennel salami lets the tannin cut through the fat. Roasted delicata squash with brown butter, sage and chile flakes is the vegetarian play. It is the bottle to open when the dinner table cannot agree on red or white.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
The Willamette Valley, nestled in Oregon, is a region renowned for its cool-climate wines, particularly its Pinot Noir. While Pinot Noir is its most celebrated variety, the valley is also home to other cool climate varieties like Chardonnay and Riesling. The region's unique terroir, characterized by rolling hills, volcanic and sedimentary soils, and a maritime climate influence, contributes to the elegance and complexity of its wines. The wines of the Willamette Valley offer a delicate balance between fruit, acidity, and earthiness. Its increasingly growing reputation places it among the world’s top regions for Pinot Noir.
