Pinot Grigio: The Mild

Learn About Pinot Grigio

You are also called Pinot Gris and are not known for complexity in your wine, Pinot Grigio. Yet you can certainly be one of character and distinction. One easily recognizable trait is your crisp acidity. You are mineral-driven and have a low extract profile yet under the right circumstances you can be fleshier with a high extract. One could even call you round. One thing is for sure, Pinot Grigio, you are an easy-to-drink wine perfect for beginner wine drinkers.

It’s your simplicity and neutrality that one finds appealing. Unlike other high profile white wines, your middle-of-the-road flavors make you a refreshing wine that compliments a variety of foods.

Your history is an unstable one, Pinot Grigio. A genetic mutation of Pinot Noir, it’s not unlikely to find gray-blue and gray-pink clusters on your vine. In fact you could produce all of one cluster one year and turn around and produce all of the other the next. You have even mutated to make Pinot Blanc.

Not to speak bad of you, Pinot Grigio, but your ripening curve is of great concern to winemakers. As you mature, your sugars increase and your acid levels drop sharply causing you to be harvested before you can achieve real flavor. This happens mostly when you find yourself in warmer climates. You will be leaner, greener and light.

On the contrary in moderate temperatures and with extended hang time, Pinot Grigio, you will create a fuller bodied wine of ripe tree-fruit characters and have a seemingly oily texture. You don’t feel pressured by waning acidity because the actual drop is much slower. A deep minerality is a result in your wines, with pronounced citrus and apple.

You also enjoy stainless steel fermentation because it preserves your fruit and your freshness and when bottled cold, Pinot Grigio, trapped residual CO2 will make you slightly effervescent, accenting your acidity. This spritz makes you appear more refreshing and magnifies your flavor and aroma.

You are best known for your Italian roots, where that crisp acidity comes into play. Though you have had success in Alsace with some amazing extract. Wherever you are found, Pinot Grigio, you are a crowd pleaser to say the least.

Varietal Styles

Warm Climates/Short Hang Time
• Crisp, Light, Clean
• High Acidity
• Green Apples, Lemon
• Flint, Steel

Cool Climates/Long Hang Time
• Round, Medium-Bodied
• Lower Acidity
• Yellow Apple, Buttered Almonds, Ripe Citrus
• Mineral, Nuts

Grape Styles
Apple | Lemon | Pear | Orange Blossom | Steel | Chalk | Mineral | Flint | Almond | Honeyed Nuts

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