Understand the grape
Getting to know the grape
Start with the name, then check the place. Pinot Grigio on an Italian label usually means a light to medium white with pear, green apple and a short, clean finish, made to be drunk young and cold. Pinot Gris on a French label, especially from Alsace, usually means a fuller wine with riper fruit, a broader texture and sometimes a trace of sweetness. In Germany, Grauburgunder is mostly dry, while its old name Ruländer once described sweet, full-bodied wine. These are tendencies, not rules. A grower in Alto Adige or Collio can make a Pinot Grigio as rich as a bottle from Alsace.
The grape is a member of the Pinot family with grey-pink skins, descended from Pinot Noir by mutation, so its skins carry some colour even though the wine is white. Most makers press the grapes quickly and ferment the juice alone, which gives a pale wine. Leaving the juice on the skins for a time gives a copper tint and a firmer, more textured wine. Place and yield change the result as much as the cellar does. Cool, breezy vineyards keep acidity and give leaner wines. Low yields and warm, dry autumns give weight and spice. The grape's tightly packed bunches can also attract noble rot, a fungus that concentrates sugar, which is how Alsace and Germany make sweet wines.
Where Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio) changes
Grape to place
Compare how the grape grows and tastes in these places. Each guide explains the local wines; the Atlas shows where they come from.
Alsace
Usually fuller and rounder than the Italian style, with ripe pear, spice and a broad texture. The rules ask for riper grapes than for Riesling, and Pinot Gris is one of four grapes allowed on a Grand Cru label. Check the sweetness word on the bottle, because dry and soft wines both exist.
Collio and Brda
Hills on the Slovenian border where the appellation rules describe the wine as straw-yellow to deep gold, sometimes with coppery reflections, with a dry, full palate. A good place to see Pinot Grigio treated as a serious wine, including skin-contact versions.
Alto Adige
About 715 hectares, around 12 per cent of the vineyard, on alluvial and gravel soils in the warm south, up to about 500 metres. The local consortium says warmer sites give full, ripe-apple and quince wines, while cooler ones give sleeker, more mineral wines.
Veneto and the Venezie
Most Italian Pinot Grigio is sold under the delle Venezie DOC, which covers Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and the province of Trento. Expect a consistent style, usually pale and dry, rather than the stamp of one village.
Pfalz
About 2,235 hectares of Grauburgunder, one of the region's leading grapes. Dry, medium-bodied wines are common, with green nut, almond and pear notes, some with time in large casks.
Willamette Valley
Pinot gris arrived early in the valley's wine story. The Eyrie Vineyards describes its plantings as the first commercial Pinot gris outside Europe. Labels there use the French name, Pinot gris.
What changes the result
Vineyard and cellar
The ripeness of the grapes, contact with their skins, and time in tanks or barrels all help shape the wine. Here is what to look for.
Quick pressing, steel and early bottling
Pressing the grapes gently and fermenting in stainless steel keeps the wine pale and the fruit clean. This is the template behind most Italian Pinot Grigio, and it is why the wine often reads as simple and refreshing rather than aromatic.
Skin contact
Some makers leave the juice on the skins before pressing, usually cold. The wine takes on a copper or pink tint and more grip and weight. In Italy these are often called ramato, the word for copper-coloured. The Collio wine board notes that skin contact is used for some of its longer-aged whites.
Lees, large casks and oak
Time on the lees, the yeast sediment left after fermentation, adds texture. Some Pfalz producers split a Grauburgunder between steel and large neutral casks. Mezzacorona's Castel Firmian Riserva matures 60 per cent of the wine in small oak barrels, which is unusual for the grape.
Harvest timing
Ripeness, yield and noble rot
In Alsace the regional rules cap yield at 80 hectolitres per hectare and ask for at least 185 grams of sugar per litre in the juice, against 160 for Riesling. Later picking gives riper fruit. Vendanges Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles wines go further, with grapes touched by noble rot in the second case.
Read the label
On the bottle
A label may name the place instead of the grape. These names and terms help you work out what is in the bottle.
- Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC
- A DOC covering Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and the province of Trento, with about 27,000 hectares of vines. Its consortium says it accounts for around 85 per cent of Italian Pinot Grigio. A wide area, so expect a consistent, easygoing style rather than a single place.
- Collio, Südtirol and Alto Adige
- Narrower names for Italian wines where Pinot Grigio can be more distinctive. Südtirol is the German name for Alto Adige, and labels may carry either or both.
- Alsace Pinot Gris and the sweetness word
- Alsace labels name the grape. Since the 2021 vintage white wines must also show sweetness: sec is dry, demi-sec off-dry, moelleux medium-sweet and doux sweet. Read it, because a rich Pinot Gris can be any of these.
- Vendanges Tardives and Sélection de Grains Nobles
- Alsace late-harvest terms. Vendanges Tardives needs grapes of at least 270 grams of sugar per litre for Pinot Gris. Sélection de Grains Nobles needs at least 306 and comes from grapes affected by noble rot. The label must show the vintage.
- Grauburgunder and Ruländer
- German names for the grape. Grauburgunder is now usually dry, especially with trocken, the German word for dry, on the label. Ruländer is the older name for fuller, often sweeter wine, from the merchant Johann Ruland, who propagated vines in Speyer in 1711.
At the table and in the cellar
Practical use
Serve
Serve light Italian bottles well chilled, around 7 to 9°C. Richer Alsace Pinot Gris and oak-aged examples taste better a little warmer, around 10 to 12°C, so the texture and spice come through.
Eat
Light Pinot Grigio suits prawns, lemony pasta, fish and soft cheeses. A fuller Grauburgunder or dry Alsace Pinot Gris can handle roast pork with apples, poultry and mushrooms. Soft or sweet styles go with blue cheese and desserts built on honey or almonds.
Keep
Simple Pinot Grigio is best in the first one to three years. Good Alsace Pinot Gris and richer Grauburgunder can develop for five years or more. Late-harvest wines can last much longer.
Taste it in three steps
Three bottles
You can try these bottles on separate occasions. Keep a note of the name, vintage and what you notice, then use the steps below to decide what to compare.
- 01
Compare two Italian styles
Pour a Pinot Grigio delle Venezie beside an Alto Adige or Collio Pinot Grigio. Note how much more weight, fruit and length the single-zone bottle has.
- 02
Move to Alsace
Try an Alsace Pinot Gris marked sec. Check the sweetness word first, then notice the broader texture and the spice that the Italian wines do not usually show.
- 03
Try skin contact or Germany
Finish with a copper-tinted Collio Pinot Grigio, or a dry Grauburgunder from the Pfalz. Compare the grip of one and the nutty weight of the other with your first bottle.