Pinot gris or grigio?

"And why do Aussie winemakers not just call it ‘grey pinot’? Well, that one’s obvious – ‘a glass of the grey stuff’ doesn’t sound quite as nice…"

Dan Murphy's

Yesterday I went out for a lovely lunch - one of those cheap lunches - well - cheaper than they usually charge - in posh places - in this case Atria on the 80th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Melbourne. And I will return to the lunch.

But first the pinot gris/pinot grigio thing. It came up because one of my companions asked for a glass of pinot grigio only to be told they only had pinot gris by the glass - so she went for that. It reminded me that I had written about it before, but couldn't remember what the difference was, so. because she was curious, I promised to find it and send her the link.

But guess what. It seems that once again my memory has failed me and I have not written about it before. So here I go with a few words. They won't be many because it's not quite as complicated as I thought. I now think that my memory of a previous post actually referred to the difference between some of the bubbly wines - a different way of making them, I seem to remember.

But I waffle. Of course. Back to the topic in hand. I'm sure you all know that these two wines come from the same grape and that those two different names are the same but in French and Italian - gris and grigio both meaning 'grey'. It is believed to be a mutation of the pinot noir grape and the range in colour of these grapes is not consistent:

"varying from a grey to a golden hue all the way through to pink tones." The Wine Collective

According to Wikipedia:

Earliest records of the grape as a distinct variety are from the Burgundy region during the Middle Ages, where it was likely known as Fromenteau. From there it spread to Switzerland and Hungary, where it became a favourite of Emperor Charles IV, and came to be known as Szürkebarát, or ‘the grey monk’."

Today in France it is mostly grown in Alsace and in Italy in the north-eastern regions. In Germany, where it is also produced, it is called Graubugunder which I'm guessing means Grey Burgundy. And of course here in Australia, New Zealand it is also very popular - and sometimes a hybrid between the two different styles. (Which I shall come to shortly). Indeed it has already overtaken verdelho, viognier and maybe even riesling in popularity. More grigio than gris that is.

"One guy said that when he was a supermarket buyer 10 years ago, they'd changed the label of a brilliant German grauburgunder to pinot gris. Result: sales trebled. It was then renamed again, to pinot grigio, and sales went up even more, despite a price hike. Someone else countered that to most people "pinot grigio" means "cheap slugger". "Hardly anyone who'd pay £9 for a wine would pick one with those words on the label," he said, "whereas if you called it pinot gris…" Victoria Moore/The Guardian"

There was also another similar story in that one supermarket wine buyer noticed a particular lady regularly buying one brand that he had championed, so asked her why she liked it, to which she enthusiastically responded that she and her family loved it because it tasted of nothing.

But does it? Having now read about these two wines it seems to me that the only difference - well I guess if there is a range in colour of the grape there are also slightly different coloured wines - but the real difference is that Pinot grigio is picked late and  Pinot gris is picked early. And this leads to grigio being dryer than gris:

"The primary flavours found in Pinot Grigio are lime, lemon, pear, white nectarine and apple. Therefore this wine is usually considered to be light, dry, and crisp." The Wine Collective

And obviously the best ones do not taste of nothing. This is James Halliday's pick of the best pinot grigio/gris this year - almost local from the Mornington Peninsula - Quealy Winemakers Feri Maris Single Block Pinot Grigio 2023. He gave it 96 points.

So a drier style which many wine writers seem to think goes admirably with Asian spicy dishes. However, this is Australia, where we experiment, so Dan Murphy says of Australian pinot grigio:

"chances are it’s dry. Of course, that’s not set in stone. Nothing in wine ever is. A winemaker can really make whatever style they fancy. That’s just part of the fun. Dan Murphy's

The poor old French however, cannot play around with wine in the same way. They have rules. In France pinot gris is:

"a prized variety in late picking which creates a sweeter taste than its counterparts. Pinot Gris is normally a dry white wine with flavours of quince, candied pear, ginger and yellow apple" The Wine Collective,

This is the pinot gris/grigio winner at the Melbourne Show this year - a really local wine from the Yarra Valley - Wayward Child Pinot Gris, 2024, Helen & Joey. We must go there some time as I believe they have a good restaurant too.

Victoria Moore of The Guardian says of this style that:

"I've always felt it needs food to play against the sugar, and the feeling of light that streams through it." going on to say "grigio for more invisible, glacial versions; gris when it has more texture, florality and, often, a tinge of sweetness."

I do not know whether Nic's gris of yesterday's lunch found it sweet or not. I must ask.

So just a couple of words about that lunch - the annual 'birthday' lunch that myself and my two daughters-in-law take - usually with my niece, but alas she could not come this year. Possibly the most wondrous thing about it all was the view - as you can see below - taken from my luxurious seat, right next to the window, across the bay and down to the Heads and the ocean beyond. The Mornington Peninsula can just be seen on the left. The city proper is behind me as it were.

It was the restaurant of a five-star hotel, and so the service was immaculate but friendly, including being escorted to the toilets, and to and from the lift. The decor was sumptuous and the tables well spaced and all with a view.

So what about the food? Well it was one of those lunch menus 2 or 3 courses, plus a glass of wine, for a supposedly cheap price - $79.00 for 2 and $89.00 for three - so we went for three - well it was a treat. And indeed the food was really nice and a choice of about four different things for each course, but really, really, really nice? Probably not and also if one is honest not really good value. But then for this kind of occasion you aren't paying for the food really are you? It's the overall ambience. The feeling of being spoilt and treated as a special person. And of course the company of my lovely two daughters-in-law is always an absolute pleasure with the conversation ranging through everything from the difficulties of teenagers, the status of women to much more mindless things. And I forgot to mention that the wines were really nice although I forgot to notice what they were, other than that I had a Provençal rosé and an Australian chardonnay.

One last thing about pinot grigio which I found on Wikipedia and which I found to be quite astonishing:

"Santa Margherita wine group, a wine producer located in the north of Italy, was the first company in the world in 1961 to vinify pink pinot grigio grapes as a white wine."

1961! Even though they have been making wine from the grape since medieval times. Apparently before then it would have been a more golden kind of colour.

One of our favourite wines of the moment - for everyday drinking is Aldi's South Point Pinot grigio. Which is indeed dry and really rather good for its ridiculously low price. I think the previous vintage won some major award in a prestigious wine show.

And one last loosely related thing. Last year at the London International Decanter Awards, Australia was just behind France with the greatest number (8) of Best in show awards and 71 awards overall.

YEARS GONE BY

July 26

2024 - Nothing

2023 - French in Fitzroy - our girl's lunch out that year

2022 - Scrambled eggs - I think I've been here before

2021 - This and that

2020 - Lost somewhere in the archives - I'm still trying to find this missing year

2019 - Tea parties - there's more than one kind

2018 - The perils of the buffet

2017 - Supermarkets and bags

2016 - David's bread