Grapevine: Looking for the next trend is a Pinot Grey Area

If you ask anyone in the wine industry what the next big trend will be, they will almost always have an opinion, and they will almost always be wrong.

A common factor in formulating an opinion is that the wine style must be simple enough for casual wine drinkers to grasp and hold on to.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the waning interest in Sauvignon Blanc has been Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio.

These wines fail miserably on the easy-to-grasp scale as it still causes debate among the wine trade as much as among consumers who don’t quite understand the differences and similarities. Let’s try to break it down a little.

First and foremost, Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are the exact same grape variety.

At this level, the difference comes from language differences only: “grigio” being the Italian translation and “gris” being the French. Gris and grigio mean “grey” in their native languages as the grape has a grey/pinkish hue that can at times be apparent in the resulting wine. That is the easy part. Once we dig into what is in the bottle is where it gets murky.

Pinot Grigio from the north-eastern area of Italy, in particular the area of Friuli, is renowned for its crisp, light, citrus-driven wines that sometimes show hints of tropical fruits or apple and pear from time to time – this is usually the result of picking the grapes earlier and as an indicator of this, look for wines that hover around the 12 per cent alcohol level. Pinot Gris, from the region of Alsace in the east of France, is renowned for its opulent, spicy, slightly sweet or luscious and medium- to full-bodied style, with ripe apple, pear and tropical fruit characters – often the result of later-picked grapes, which can be indicated by higher alcohols, usually well above 13 per cent. If we pit these two stereotypes at the polar ends of the spectrum, we can dive in to the grey area in between.

If a wine is labelled as Pinot Grigio, you can usually expect it to be true to style: lighter-bodied, with a crisp structure and delicate fruit flavours. While some producers will use barrel fermentation, lees contact or some residual sugar to add layers of texture or a slightly fuller mouthfeel, the bare bones will be true to style.

Pinot Gris is often seen as the more “serious” style and thus can command a higher price tag, all else being equal. It is here where you are more likely to see some technique employed to make a Pinot Grigio appear more like a Pinot Gris. The techniques mentioned to add texture to a Pinot Grigio may be employed again, but the tell-tale markers of a Pinot Gris – spice (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg), rich/ luscious mouthfeel and at least medium-body – must be present for it to be a true Pinot Gris style.

Oakdene Pinot Grigio 2018 – $23
Most wine drinkers tend to like the lighter body and fresh fruit of Pinot Grigio, but with a subtle softness to the mouthfeel such that the acidity isn’t quite so sharp. This strikes that balance well. The structure is crisp and clean with the edges of the acidity softened nicely alongside a richness to the fruit, which is still definitely Pinot Grigio in its fresh citrus and just-there pear character.