A selection of wines made with the Pinot Grigio grape variety
Our range includes including blends using this grape. Pinot Grigio is now grown all over the world and is enjoying massive popularity. It generally makes slightly neutral wine with medium acidity and this is possibly what has contributed to its huge success. Our Pinot Grigio's come from Italy, Australia, Sicily and New Zealand where is often called Pinot Gris.
Pinot Gris is an international white grape variety, cultivated more or less all over the world, with very different results according to the soil, the climate and - obviously - the winemakers’ skill and style.
Pinot Gris is believed to be a clone of Pinot Noir (indeed, it often shows greyish-blue berries and grows in small, dense, cone-shaped clusters) and to have the same origins. In all likelihood, it originated in Burgundy - there are evidence of its existence that dates back to the XIV century - and moved to the conquer of the world, at different stages in different places, between the Middle Ages and the Modern Era. As a consequence, nowadays it almost has a different name in every different country it is grown in, which might lead to some confusion.
It is Grauburgunder or Rülander in Germany and Austria, it’s Monemvasia in Greece and Pinot Grigio in Italy. It has a plethora of alternative names in France, too, among which Fromentot and - pretty misleading -Malvoisie.
Despite its French origins, it is one of the most cultivated grapes in Northern Italy. Pinot Grigio, which is the mere translation of its name - can be somehow considered an Italian wine, even because it assumes specific peculiarities here, due to the different winemaking styles they use in Italy. Indeed, Pinot Gris produced in Australia can also be labelled Pinot Grigio to specify it is a dry and mineral wine, instead of a fruity one, made after the French style.
Pinot Grigio produced in Italy, indeed, is famous for being so different from French Pinot Gris because of this lack of floral and fruity notes, replaced by mineral and almost salty ones.
By some, it is often still considered of an average lower quality.
It is a prominent variety in Veneto, where they cultivate it in large volumes at high yields, which lead to the not-so-good reputation of Pinot Grigio in the world.
There are remarkable wines made of Pinot Grigio from region Veneto, but they usually come from great winemakers, while average products are often still not very interesting and quite bland.
Just a few kilometres to the north, Trentino-Alto Adige is another region where Pinot Grigio is widely cultivated, but where they take more care of the quality, so that they produce a fresh and dry wine, with clear mineral notes, yet aromatic - especially in the northern province of the region, Alto Adige/Südtirol.
Pinot Grigio is also a common variety in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, where they also make dry and mineral wines out of it. In the subregion called Collio they are keener to allow a brief maceration and to obtain more complex and mouth-filling wines, yet still dry.
This winemaking style is also popular in wine regions close to northern Italy, such as southern Austria and Slovenia.
Pinot Grigio is also grown to produce cuvees and to form a minor part of the ampelographic base of some typical local wines, among which is surprisingly Prosecco.
