The most illustrious vineyards planted to pinot gris–from Alsace and Germany–make dry, medium and sweet white wines that put most chardonnays to shame.
Pinot gris, a k a pinot grigio, is a grayish or pinkish grape that gives white juice (gris is French for gray, which becomes grigio in Italian). It’s the result of a mutation, deriving probably from pinot noir. Worldwide acreage of pinot gris weighs in at about 40,000 acres. When you consider that there are more than 275,000 acres of chardonnay and 400,000 of merlot, pinot gris is small juice.
Yet newcomers like Oregon are making America take notice. Oregon now has more than 1,000 acres planted, up 900 percent from 1986, and more than any other state. Longtime producer David Lett of Eyrie still makes one of the best, but Ponzi, Argyle, Adelsheim and the relatively new entrant, WillaKenzie, are making very interesting examples in the dry style ($10 to $15).
Also, pinot gris is a grape to watch in Michigan, which has probably less than 50 acres in the whole state. Look for future wines from vineyards in the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas.
But to many the pinot gris grape shows itself in the most dramatic fashion of all in the east-facing slopes of the Vosges Mountains in Alsace, where all but a dribble of France’s 3,000 acres are planted. Here the wines are usually fermented dry (with notable exceptions such as the mildly sweet vendange tardive and the supersweet selections des grains nobles: Zind-Humbrecht, Domaine Schlumberger and Becker make outstanding examples on this market). They are nearly as aromatic as gewurztraminers and they are “fat” wines, wines that, although dry, feel in the mouth like a dessert wine. They do well with rich goose dishes and terrines that are classics in Alsace; but they also do battle with mildy spicy Asian foods. Schlumberger’s Prince Abbe ($14) is a good entry-level version, as are Scherer’s ($13) and Jos. Meyer’s Cuvee Fanny Elizabeth ($18).
For more substance, look for wines with a single vineyard or town name, the words vieilles vignes (old vines) or the relatively recent appellation, Alsace grand cru, on the label. Deiss’ Beblenheim ($22), Schoffit’s Cuvee Alexandre ($25), Albert Mann’s Furstentum ($25), Trimbach’s Reserve Personnelle ($30) or just about anything from Zind-Humbrecht will show you what I mean. Unlike those from Italy, Alsace’s better examples usually need a few years in the bottle (10 to 20 is not unheard of). A 1990 Schlumberger Grand Cru Kitterle was just starting to become interesting in a recent tasting.
The world leader for pinot gris is Italy with about 9,000 acres. Almost 90 percent of that is planted in the three northeastern regions of Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, and Veneto. Growing in such a cool climate, and on mountains up to 2,500 high, the grapes yield low sugars and higher acids that make crisp, low-alcohol wines, perfect as aperitifs. As these wines rarely see oak, winemakers add flavor by fermenting cold (60 degrees or lower as opposed to 85 or so), often in stainless-steel tanks. Such low tempertures also keep all the CO2 of fermentation from flying off, so the wines remain slightly fizzy–frizzante–to the tongue.
At last count about three dozen Italian pinot grigios were on Chicago shelves (including the new entry brought to us by none other than Ernest & Julio Gallo: Ecco Domani, $8). The most famous–Santa Margherita ($14)–was the first brand to be aggressively marketed a decade or more ago and opened the floodgates for all the rest.
But there are others. If you want light and simple, stay under $10 and remember to pick the youngest vintage (stay away from anything older than 1995). Personal favorites include Bollini, MezzaCorona, Lagaria, Bolla, Zemmer, Tieffenbrunner, Boscaini, Kettmeir and Lungarotti.
If you want more complexity and often a touch of oak, you’ll have to spend more. Those worth the extra money include Lageder’s regular bottling ($13; his special bottling, Beneficium Porer, is $20 and is one of the few that need 1 or 2 more years to really show itself), Livio Felluga ($12) Bartoluzzi ($13) and Puiatti ($14).
Believe it or not, Moldova, with 7,000 acres of the grape, is second worldwide in pinto gris production but so far has no product on the market. Germany is third with just over 6,000 acres. In most cases, these are handled like most of the rest of German wines in that a slight amount of natural residual sugar is left unfermented. There they call it Rulander or Grauer Burgunder and you’ll have to search the German delicatessens (such as Meyer’s, Kuhn’s) for the few that may be in town.
