Pinot Gris Wine

There may be no grape in the world that shares the ability of Pinot Gris to make stunningly powerful, complex, and inspirational world class wines in some regions of the world and at the very same moment produce entirely insipid, lifeless, “grape/water” wines in other growing areas. So caveat emptor as you enter into the treacherous world of Pinot Gris.

Pinot Gris in French is the same grape you also know as Pinot Grigio in Italy. Actually native to the Burgundy region of France where it appeared as a lighter skinned clonal variation of Pinot Noir this grape probably reaches its greatest heights in Alsace. Alsacian Pinot Gris can vary from clean lined in the mouth to weighty and unctuous, but the best versions are always strikingly intense with a rich peach and stone fruit quality backed by great ripeness of flavors and sometimes even a little smoke.

Italian Pinot Grigio can vary from the superb bright, crisp, mineral and honeydew melon driven wines of Friuli and the Alto Adige in the north to the light, innocuous, lemon water versions offered up by many of the lower regions of Italy. To be clear this “water ne Pinot Grigio” that is produced in industrial complexes all over the less varietally appropriate regions of Italy is not made for local consumption. It’s made for export, and they ship most of it over to America where we drink it like little lemming fishes.

Somewhere in the middle, between the ripeness and intensity of Alsacian Pinot Gris and the crispness of the better Italian models of this wine, you will find the Pinot Gris producers from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. At their best these wines can be absolutely lovely and charming with a little flesh, a little flash, and a whole lot of enjoyment.