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Pinot Gris Grapes

Pinot Gris grapes are the best known white variant of Pinot Noir Grapes. Pinot Gris grapes vary in color from a bluish-grey to light pinkish-brown and grow in small clusters that resemble pinecones. It is not unusual for these clusters to contain a variety of colors. Pinot Gris grapes also have a very high level of sweetness but they tend to loose their acidity as they ripen.

Pinot Gris grapes produce wines that are usually delicately fragrant and contain mildly floral and lemon citrus flavors. Pinot Gris Wines can be tangy and light or rich, round and full bodied but this will depend on the ripeness of the grapes. Pinot Gris grapes are typically used to produce a dry white wine that quite ages well.

Pinot Gris grapes are grown throughout the world and depending on their origin they can be called by many different names. In Burgundy, they are called Pinot Beurot. While in Germany, they are called Rulander. The best known regions for producing Pinot Gris are Alsace in France and Oregon. (see also History of Pinot Gris)

Pinot Gris grapes prefer a marginal climate with long temperate summers and cooler autumns. This makes Oregon and the Alsace region in France the ideal growing locations. Pinot Gris grapes do not fare well in hotter climates as they need colder temperatures in order to ripen fully and produce distinctive flavors.

Another quality that Pinot Gris grapes prefer are slopes. Almost all Pinot Gris vines grown in Oregon are found on slopes. By planting the vines on slopes at elevations between two-hundred and fifty to seven-hundred feet the vines are generally above frost levels and if the slopes face southeast to southwest the grapes get some extra hours of exposure to the sunlight. (see also Pinot Gris Wine Recommendations)

Are you interested in growing your own grapes at home? If so, I can personally recommend this book by Danie Wium. I recently began growing my own grapes for use in winemaking and this book was an invaluable tool along the way.