When I lived amongst the roots they pleased me more than flowers did, and when I spoke to a stone it rang like a bell.
— NARUDA, Too Many Names
A grape of many monikers, Pinot Grigio has, across time and space, been known as Fromenteau in Languedoc, Pinot Gris in Burgundy, Auxerrois Gris and Tokay in Alsace, Grauer Mönch in Austria, Szürkebarát in Hungary, Grauburgunder, Grauklevner, and Ruländer in Germany, Malvoisie in Loire and Switzerland – but it is its Northern Italian name, Pinot Grigio, by which it is most known today.
The onomastics of this evolution allow us to trace rather neatly its geographical spread. It started out in Burgundy, being a mutation of Pinot Noir, and, as such, is one of the darkest skinned grapes used for white wine. Its popularity there and to the west of France was, up into the 19th century, pretty unyielding; however, by a more literal use of this word, it was, quite literally, ‘un-yielding’ – and this failing crop was soon replaced with higher yield grapes. Back in 1200s, it had moved east to Alsace, and by the early 1300s it had worked its way down to what was then the realm of the Holy Roman Empire, quickly becoming the favourite grape of then-current Emperor, Charles IV, who bequeathed vine cuttings to various Cistercian monks, giving them instructions to spread his bête blanc around the empire, and then beyond. They crossed imperial borders into Hungary, where it was planted and produced as a sweet wine, and they soon ventured further into Eastern Europe, most notably Romania and Slovakia, where the grape is still popular today. In the other direction, a group of monks were sent down to northern Italy, where it became its most famous incarnation. It was not for a few hundred more years that it would begin to be planted in New Zealand, Australia, North America, and other New World regions, and did not reach South Africa until the 1980s.
So, not only does it go by many names, and go to many places, but goes by many profiles too, with each region and process uniquely displaying its many diverse characters:
“A hundred arms sprang from the shoulders of all alike, and each had
fifty heads growing upon his shoulders upon stout limbs.” — HESIOD, The Theogony.
As testament to this Hecatoncheir of a wine, I wanted to examine a little closer the many faces it possesses:
The Crisp
One key reason the ‘Grigios’ of Italy have such a distinct character, is down largely to the grapes being picked quite a bit earlier than in other regions, giving them heightened acidity and sharpness; the grapes also typically undergo fermentation in steel vats to preserve the cleanliness of the wine, as opposed to the common oaking found in Alsace and Germany. I find these wines to be zippy, metallic, citrusy, fragrant, and contain crisp orchard fruits. It can be quite hard to find great options for these, only because of the sheer amount on the market. An example I find particularly interesting is Cantina Tramin’s ‘Unterebner’ Pinot Grigio, which comes from Alto Adige (Südtirol), an autonomous region nestled up against the Alps in northern Italy. The whole region is comprised of strong unions and cooperatives to protect and guard industry. Their winemaking is no exception. Cantina Tramin, founded by a local parish priest, is a consortium of over 160 families, pooling resources for economic strength, and producing exceptional, characterful wines. Their Epokale Gewürztraminer (their prized and native grape) was the first ever Italian white wine to receive 100 from Parker – but we are interested in the Grigio! Amber-hued, rounded mouthfeel, stacked with ripe pear, dry grass, smokey spices in the finish, and, due to the extensive ageing on lees, a markèd butteriness. Certainly a great example of Italian Pinot Grigio.
The Sweet
Tokaji, a Hungarian sweet wine now made almost entirely from the Furmint varietal, was once made with the Pinot Gris brought over from Alsace. In a strange turn of reciprocity, as Hungary began using Furmint to make Tokaji, Pinot Gris was being brought back to Alsace, with which they made their own sweet wines, and named them Tokay d’Alsace. The primary factors generating the sweetness of these wines are the long, hot, sunny periods, and the presence of Botrytis, or ‘Noble Rot’, a fungus which dehydrates the grapes, thus concentrating the sugars. Naturally, the wines are incredibly sweet, almost desert-wine-esque (and sometimes classify as dessert wines), have heavy aromas, syrupy mouth-feels, and are full of stewed orchard fruits, lemon-curd honey, as well as subtle hints of spice and stone in the finish. Domaines Schlumberger, based in the Haut-Rhin sub-region of Alsace, offer great and affordable options for these sweeter wines, such as their many prized Pinot Gris Verdanges Tardives (late-harvest in French).
The Complex
Usually found in Alpine regions of Alsace, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. For this style I will use a specific example which I had the pleasure of trying whilst down in Cambridge last week. The vernal sun was blazing in its descent, and I knew I wanted a clean, sweet, bright, mineral-heavy white wine to match it. The lovely staff of Cambridge Wine Merchants (a fantastic little retailer and bar situated by the river) guided me kindly away from the Joh Jos Prüm Spätlese I had just ordered (and loved), brining over instead a simply stunning bottle of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht’s Pinot Gris Roche Volcanique, 2022. My first thought was how the bright golden hue matched the currently post-meridian sun, and, as the glasses were poured, a bouquet of overripe-peach filled the air. Waxy on the mouthfeel, and not actually as sweet as I expected from its aroma; it was, thankfully, very elegant and refined, with a spate of subtle stone-fruit, pebbles, and a smokey, saline citrus twist in the end, reminding me of some esoteric and exotic cocktail garnish which I was unable to acutely decipher… Perhaps I ought to get another bottle in.
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Hopefully (if I have deployed language well enough), this article has you wanting to join in with the Pinot Grigio day celebrations occurring, and open a bottle of delicious wine. We are all familiar with the classic Italian style, so if you are looking to try something a little different, we offer a really quite remarkable Californian expression: Eden Rift Pinot Gris 2020.
I Brand & Family make some fantastic bottles of classically Californian Cab Savs and Cab Francs, where the climate and soil of their Central Coast vineyards push the wines into fruitdom. The Eden Rift vineyard in the Cienega Valley AVA, from which their 2020 Pinot Gris hails, lends a generous handful of minerality to the finish, as well as strong basket of orchard-fruits and stone-fruits, herbaceousness, and citrus up front.
Take a look at some of I Brand & Family’s wines here.
London, 17th May, MMXXV
