Firstly the names, Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are the same grape, it’s a bit
like you say tomato’s we say tematoe’s. The French call the wine Pinot Gris
(grey pinot) and the Italians call the grape Pinot Grigio.
Here in Australia we use both names, with some winemakers it depends on their
Europen influence, with most it’s the generic wine style that is being
produced. Just as our old generic styles here in the past where called names
like burgundy, claret and Chablis to reflect the style of wine, but the grapes
could have been anything, Gris and Grigio are chosen here to describe the style
produced by the grape. And just as the old generic names caused confusion in
the market, these choices of names here are doing the same. I guess it’s
generic use of a varietal name.
We’ll address these names and the two basic styles in a minute; I say basic
styles because there are a number of styles involved. Picture pinots Gris and
Grigio at opposite end of a gauge, and there are a number of styles in between.
Which raises the question, what do you call them?
Well you stick with the names we mentioned but to help everyone along, The wine
industry has come up with an official gauge which explains all the styles and
helps you pigeon hole your wine or find the wine you want, This gauge will soon
start appearing on Gris and Grigio bottles so that when you go to purchase you
can choose the style you want by checking the gauge. It’s called the Pinot G
Style Spectrum and it can be found at http://www.pinotg.com.au
Wine historians agree that Pinot Gris originated in France in the Burgundy
region yonks ago. The grape is suspected to me a mutant of the Pinot Noir
grape, this theory has been backed up by modern botany which shows through DNA
profiling that the grapes are very closely related.
So this mutant grey blue-ish coloured grape pops up and someone says – “oh that
looks interesting! I’ll clone that and plant more of it, see what we can make
from it?”
Don’t you love curiosity and experimentation?
The result was Pinot Gris, It did have another name but well stay out of there
today, the name Pinot, (French for Pine cone) they reckon was to describe the
cone shape of Pinot grape bunches, Pinot Noir = Red pine cones. The Gris being
more grey blue was called Pinot Gris. Pinot Gris = grey pine cone.
The grape arrived in Switzerland in the 1300’s and Charles lV loved the stuff
that much he imported it to Hungary and got some Monks to grow it, it wasn’t
long before the Germans had it growing too and both the Germans and the
Hungarians had different names again.
By the 18th Century they couldn’t get enough of it in Burgundy and Champagne and
everyone was into it, but Pinot Gris is even worse than it’s notorious sister
Pinot Noir to grow, in fact it’s a pain in the arse!
Temperamental, almost anaemic looking apathetic growth, Low yields, and that’s
now! Back then before selective breeding it was even worse!
So you can understand why the French got over it and moved on, in fact it almost
vanished from the regions, and would have probably become extinct if it wasn’t
for the Germans!
The Germans had almost lost it too until they saved the grape by developing
stronger vines with better yields and thus saved the wine for future
generations of smarty pants to enjoy!
The wine is now grown in around 18 countries and over 100 wine regions, Most of
the New world from Argentina to China has embraced the grape variety, but in
Europe the main players are France - Alsace (one of the world’s top Riesling
regions) which, due to its cold climate, produces a pretty powerful fat Gris.
Ítaly from the lighter dry styles of the cool north to the warmer south, where
it is called Pinot Grigio
Germany where it can be called Rulande, producing a dry fuller style Austria and
Ukraine are also pretty big on the wine
In the New world the Americans are into it now and the New Zealanders have been
doing great Pinot gris for a while now.
I was selling fantastic Pinot Gris from NZ, or should I say begging people to
try the wine, in my shop in the mid-nineties.
In fact the variety is now so successful in NZ that it has grown over 100% in
less than five years to beat Riesling as the third most planted white variety
there.
Here in Australia it’s been around since the mid 1800s but didn’t take off until
T’Gallant in Mornington peninsular Victoria started playing with the grape, In
fact T’Gallant has been one of the main driving forces behind the success of
the wine here, and started pushing it in the early 90’s.
Like NZ, over the past 5 years here, Pinot Gris has had a pretty vertical
trajectory on the wine sales graph along with sav blanc, while in comparison
Chardonnay plummeted and is currently flat lining.
One of the great things about Pinot Gris for winemakers is that it doesn’t need
a lot of abra cadabra’ in the winery, and it can be released very early in the
market as a fresh ready to drink now wine style.
Pinot G as we’ll call them is now grown in every wine region in Australia and
producing a plethora of different styles with varying success. So far the
better styles have come from cool regions like Mornington and Bellerine
peninsulars (geelong) and Macedon in Victoria; Adelaide Hills in SA; Canberra;
Orange, Tumbarrumba, Hilltops and new England in NSW.
Basically every man and his dog is having a crack at it, over time the
appropriate regions and styles will sort themselves out, just as other
varieties have in this Country. Having said that there will always be a
renegade crackpot eccentric winemaker who will grow the grape in the “wrong
location” and sometimes fail but now and then nail it! And thank God for that
because if TGallant hadn’t persevered with the wine here 20 years ago we may
not be offering you a bargain Gris at Bidsonline today!
The styles at each end of the Pinot G scale are:
Pinot Gris – These tend to be a fuller lush richer style which can tend to be a
tad sweeter from longer ripening of the bunches on the vine before picking.
These wines can do well in the cellar. Great with richer dishes, French food,
Pasta sauces, chicken etc
Pinot Grigio – a lighter fresher crisp dryer earlier picked style – great with
oysters, seafood, summer lunches and salads.
I have had both styles with Asian food and both went well, again it depends on
the dish
Perhaps we can cover Asian food and wine another time.
The fruit charators and other flaovors of these wines vary from style region to
paddock. With descriptions like flinty, pear, guava, stonefruit, nashi pear,
and spice and many others. Basically until the Gscale comes into it’s own as a
wine selecting tool, the best way to decide if it’s the Pinot G for you is to
check the back label and read the description and food match. So there you go,
next time someone offers you a Pinot G, instead of shying away and reaching for
the nearest NZ Sav Blanc, you can now thrust your glass forward with confidence
and be the smarty pants as you impress the group with your knowledge on the
difference relationship between Pinot Gris and Pinot Griggio.
The wine we have selected is the 2008 Bridgwater Mill Pinot Gris.
Although it is almost 3 years old, this Pinot Gris is still showing fantastic
youthful characters but should be drunk now and within the next 6 months, but
that’s fine, because we still have a lot of great summer lunches to come. Not
only is Pinot Gris great for summer lunches it can be a great match for Asian
food.
Here are Lisa’s tasting notes on the Pinot Gris;
A good example of Pinot Grigio with plenty of spicy pear character showing some
development with some deeper stonefruit characters. Dry, fuller body,
good length. A very enjoyable wine to drink now.
This wine sold for between $19 and $21 per bottle Our Guide price is $12.50
Also landing in our warehouse this week is the Preece Chardonnay 2008,
This wine is regularly reviewed in the press since it hit the market in the 80s
and has constantly delivered quality for price. It’s sourced from Victorian
Vineyards this is a fruit driven chardonnay which means it’s only lightly oaked
and showing great tropical and stone fruit characters. Try it with chicken.
Lisa’s tasting notes are;
Is just showing Ripe pineapple, peach & melon characters with crisp acid,
medium to full body that is drier, rounded & honeyed with some age. A good
wine for dinner drinking over the next 12 months.
The wine was retailing at $14 – 17 per bottle our guide price $9.00 per bottle