The Other Pinot

The popularity of Pinot Noir as a red wine grape has been sustained for some time now. In the past decade or so another pinot has been gaining in popularity as well, with plantings increasing around the world. Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio in Italian) is an alternative to the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc standards for white wine drinkers.

Pinot Noir is an ancient variety that has spawned several genetically similar variations including Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Meunier. Pinot Meunier is a red grape used extensively in Champagne. It is a more reliable producer in the cool vineyards of northeastern France and contributes body, acidity, and aromatics to the blend. Pinot Blanc is a colour variation of Pinot Noir, a white grape, which produces wines showing apple, stone fruit, and citrus blossom floral aromas.

The other colour variant of Pinot Noir is Pinot Gris. Gris means “gray” in French, reflecting grape colours which range from off-white to grayish-blue; that is, somewhere between a white grape and a regular red (or black) grape. Pinot Gris is usually produced as a white wine with straw or light lemon colouration (with little extract of colour from the skins), but it can sometimes be seen with pale orange hues.

Italian wines from this grape tend to be picked early, enhancing their acidity and limiting the aromatics, with the result that “Pinot Grigio” has come to define this style, wherever it is produced – we often get such wines from California. A wine maker producing a wine with the full body and rich fruit similar to the Alsatian version is likely to call it a Pinot Gris. For me it is the full-featured Alsace Grand Cru that achieves the zenith of this variety. Such wines have moderate acidity, full body, and tropical fruit flavours accented with some spiciness.

The South Island of New Zealand has been well estalbished as a cool climate wine region producing wonderful Pinot Noir from Central Otago as well as the country’s signature Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. In between those two famous regions is the Canterbury/Waipara Valley region, located around Christchurch on the eastern (protected) side of the central mountains. The climate is cool and dry, encouraging a long growing season in which the grapes ripen slowly, maintain good levels of acidity, and build intense flavours – almost a duplicate of conditions in Alsace. Pinot Gris has supplanted Riesling to become New Zealand’s third most planted white variety.

The Waipara Hills Pinot Gris 2015 (NLC $18.89) will certainly remind you of Alsace wines with its “oily” (smooth, textured) fullness. The abundant nose shows apple and pear aromas, and the taste is finished with a touch of caramel. We paired our bottle with planked Atlantic salmon and the two proved a wicked match. I suspect the cedar flavours of the salmon were complemented by the caramel accent in the wine. Pinot Gris is also recommended for roast pork, creamy pastas, chicken, and rich seafood such as shrimp. Score: 16/Very Good.