Ash Ridge is a small, organically farmed family estate in the Bridge Pa Triangle of Hawke's Bay, owned since late 2021 by Leith and Tracy Ashworth, with Leith running both vineyard and winery. The Bridge Pa's warm inland climate and free-draining gravel soils over clay favour ripe, textural whites, and this Pinot Gris is assembled from carefully selected fruit parcels across three vineyards to build layers and balance. The 2025 Hawke's Bay vintage should be described against the producer's own seasonal notes; broadly, recent North Island white vintages have combined warm ripening with the retention of freshness, but precise 2025 detail is unconfirmed here and should be verified.

Made in an Alsace-inspired, textural idiom, the fruit was pressed and fermented to preserve crunchy pear and stone-fruit flavour, with a portion worked in oak to lend the signature creamy note, then aged for around four months on lees for a soft, luscious texture before bottling. Aromatically it leads with poached nashi pear and orange blossom, while the palate carries crunchy pear and white-peach fruit with hints of creamy oak, nutmeg and gentle spice, closing soft, luscious and rounded on a lightly textured finish.