We gathered every example of Australian pinot gris or pinot grigio (including wines with some degree of skin contact) that we could find and set our expert panel the task of finding the wines that compelled the most. All wines were tasted blind, and each panellist named their top six wines.
Our panel: Kathleen Quealy, proprietor and winemaker, Quealy Winemakers; Mike Aylward, proprietor and winemaker, Ocean Eight; Chris Strickland, winemaker, Foxey’s Hangout; Iona Baker, sales representative, Trembath & Taylor; Clarissa Lorenzato, sommelier and wine merchant, l’Enoteca at Mercato Centrale; Tristan Jallais, proprietor and wine merchant, Natural Science Wine & Liquor; Marie Grasset, restaurant manager and wine buyer, Barragunda Dining; Hayley Farquar, wine merchant and sommelier, City Wine Shop.
Baker and Jallais both selected this wine in their top six from the blind tasting. Baker found “the nose is very savoury, almost hiding to start: raw almonds with riper peaches and pear, a hint of thyme leaf and a wet clay–like edge. The palate is delicately pretty with mandarin juice and rind, almonds and tiger lily flowers that persisted.” Jallais was enthusiastic: “This immediately launched itself at me, ticking so many boxes just on the rich and opulent nose alone. A beautiful gold colour – this absolutely glistens. A nice dash of residual sugar on this wine, plus hints of honey, equals magic. This is toasty and plush: I get some apricot and ginger here, and it feels unctuous and rich in the mouth. It tastes like there’s likely some Botrytis fruit in there and I’m all for it. Opulent, moreish, and excellent – I’m quite into this.”
Strickland chose this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “On the nose, a lovely bouquet leaping out of the glass: layers of florals, jasmine, elderflower, poached pear, spice, cinnamon through to quince paste,” he described. “Builds in the mouth. Pure fruit expression – Nashi pear and spice – and great complexity. A sweetness on the finish makes it a great food pairing. An intensely aromatic expression of pinot gris: pear fruits supported with layers of florals and spice. Sublime mouthfeel, the Nashi pear at the front, with a mid-palate of slippery phenolic texture, into a hint of sweetness to finish. A classic example of pinot gris style that will pair with many intensely aromatic Asian cuisines.”
Grasset and Aylward both included this wine in their top six from the blind tasting. Grasset noted it was “bursting with aromas of stone fruit like ripe pear, apricot and a whisper of honeysuckle. This pinot gris is textured with a gentle oiliness. Its lingering finish would pair beautifully with autumn roast chicken or a creamy pumpkin risotto.” Aylward called it “a beautifully complete and balanced wine, showing the classic varietal characters of pinot gris. Delicate aromas of rose petals and pears are lifted by a touch of residual sugar, which integrates seamlessly with clean acidity and generous palate weight. The residual sweetness softens any sour edges, and extends the wine’s length, leaving a textured and harmonious finish. My top pick of the tasting for its varietal expression and overall balance.”
Strickland and Lorenzato both had this wine in their top six from the blind tasting. Strickland described “brown pear, squash, nutty, fennel and cooking spice. Nutty richness and great acid drive, a long and persistent finish. Moreish and complex with acid length and a hint of sweetness on the finish. What I refer to as an onion wine – lots of layers. A great food wine with acidity and sweetness playing off each other to give depth and the aromatics to go along with highly flavoursome and spicy food.” Lorenzato found it “playful right from the start. Think caramelised citrus peel and sugared mandarins – sweet, candied citrus that feels both fun and a little cheeky. There’s a faint herbal lift, like a pinch of marjoram rubbed between your fingers, adding an edge to all that fruit brightness. In the mouth it’s soft and approachable, almost creamy at first, but quickly snaps back with a crisp, mineral bite. This is the kind of wine that would shine with spicy Asian dishes, or as a talking-point pour at a dinner party – sweet meets savoury, with a wink of mischief.”
Lorenzato, Baker, and Jallais all featured this wine in their top six from the blind tasting. Lorenzato was captivated by the colour: “What a colour – this wine practically glows, a blazing, electric orange that catches the light like stained glass. The aromas are wild and smoky. There’s an earthy, slightly ashy edge that feels raw and elemental. On the palate it shows its softer side, with juicy grilled orange and a sprinkle of herbs adding flavour and freshness. It may not be the most complex wine in the room, but it’s unique, and absolutely memorable.” Baker noted “a lightly blush rose colour – this is a lovely example of Pinot Grigio made with skin contact. It shows mealy aromas, followed by raspberries, orange peel and terracotta-like tannins. Fruity and floral on the palate with oranges, raspberries, cherries, Pink Lady apples and rose petals, alongside a light grainy mouthfeel.” Jallais found “a nice deep blush colour on this wine – very pretty and inviting. Probably some sensible amount of skin contact with just the right amount of tannin, grip and structure. This felt really round in the mouth, with soft, juicy edges – think nectarine with a splash of citrus, sprinkled with sweet baking spice. This felt like standing in a kitchen with fresh bread and simple cake cooling down on a tray. All in all this is a very handsome skinsy gris that’s complex but utterly chuggable.”
Lorenzato and Farquar both selected this wine in their top six from the blind tasting. Lorenzato said, “this one shows off its natural side with a gentle cloudiness and that glowing amber-orange hue. The nose is all about citrus in bloom – fragrant orange blossom layered with the tangy punch of blood orange. Take a sip and it’s downright juicy, bursting with freshness and energy. There’s a subtle yeasty note tucked in, more like the savoury edge of fresh sourdough crust than anything distracting. It’s lively, fun, and deliciously moreish – a wine that begs to be poured in the middle of a long, lazy lunch outdoors.” Farquar was equally enthusiastic: “Trying to make sense of my notes for this wine are difficult, but my excitement leaps off the page. This wine had me at ‘hello’. The bright salmon colour in the glass with the tinge of orange, the delicate blossom notes on the nose, paired with the classic savoury element I typically see from skin contact – this wine did not leave me wanting. Big bright acidity goes toe-to-toe with a rich and textured palate. In my notes I used the word ‘knockout’ – which is a major compliment after so many other wines.”
Grasset and Quealy both chose this wine in their top six from the blind tasting. Grasset found it “glowing deep gold in the glass. This wine greets with white jasmine flowers, almond blossoms, peach, and a spark of grapefruit. On the palate it feels generous yet fresh, unfolding slowly into a graceful, lingering finish that invites another sip. This wine is calling for pan-fried snapper with citrus butter.” Quealy noted “smells of pears, brine, wild honey, delicate pink fruits. The palate is saline. That sensation of mineral salt and gossamer layers of illusory sweetness that is cool and soothing. Good length of flavour assisted with finest mote of tannin, barely brushed with acidity, and finishing cool and slippery.”
Quealy included this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “The aroma immediately entices with dark golden honey, sunflowers, and a fine walnut oil,” she described. “Has a lovely luxe palate coated with fine spice, and a generous middle-palate filled with complexity. Fine tannin and spice caress the mouth. Finish is cool, fine, and leaves me longing for more.”
Lorenzato chose this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “This wine bursts open with the zing of fresh grapefruit – think of the juiciest, ruby-pink pulp dripping down your fingers,” she described. “A cool flicker of mint and a squeeze of lime keep things lively, while a hint of tropical fruit sweetness softens the edges. On the palate, the grapefruit sails right through, crisp and refreshing, with a subtle salty note – it made me think of pink sea salt on the rim of a Margarita glass. Medium-bodied, yet feather-light in feel, it glides across the tongue with softness and ease. Perfect with a plate of prawns fresh off the barbecue or just a bowl of salted crisps in good company.”
Baker had this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “An appealing golden colour with some nice viscosity/legs coating the glass,” she observed. “Attractive aromatics of orange blossom, white pepper spice, macadamia nut, apricot kernel and hints of fresh honeycomb. The palate stands out – lovely, rounded, multi-layered and silky, with lively refreshing nectarine mingled together with chalky minerality, fresh rose petals, and leatherwood honey.”
Strickland and Aylward both selected this wine in their top six from the blind tasting. Strickland found “guava, white florals, daffodil, light stone fruit, white nectarine, nashi pear and nutmeg supporting. A sweet-sour acid tension gives a nice depth to the palate. An intense aromatic profile supported with a decisive acid drive, with a hint of sweetness to finish it off. A richer style of pinot gris, edging into the tropical, with a depth on the nose that is working well to keep the richness in check.” Aylward described “an elegant gris style with aromas of rose petal and blossom. The palate has ample weight and finishes clean and fresh, supported by bright acidity. This is a versatile wine that would shine alongside Thai cuisine, with enough structure to complement chilli spice. A classic, food-friendly pinot gris.”
Lorenzato featured this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “Refreshing right from the first sniff – a cool wave of mint and eucalyptus, like cracking open one of those Italian orange-and-eucalyptus throat candies,” she noted. “It’s citrus galore, but not just the juicy flesh – more like zest and peel, with that slightly bitter, tangy twist that makes your mouth water. On the palate it’s vibrant and bright. The silky texture gives it an elegant ease, making each sip slide down smoothly. Another great wine in a spritzy, summery mood – crisp, light on its feet, and seriously easy to drink. Best poured chilled on a balcony with a plate of olives and some good company.”
Quealy selected this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “The aroma is delicate, almost gilded, with luscious aromas of raisin, spice, cocoa, and honey,” she described. “A dignified, golden aroma of a farmhouse table spread with delicious ingredients. The palate is beautiful, lithe and long. The middle palate is rose petal gossamer, with an enchanting tannic profile, fine and chewy. Finishes with traces of honey.”
Grasset and Strickland both had this wine in their top six from the blind tasting. Grasset said, “at first sight this wine is quite shy on the nose, however it surprises on the palate with juicy, well-balanced fruit and lively acidity. Smooth and refreshing, I would be drinking this wine with fresh goat’s cheese on a summer day.” Strickland noted “Nashi pear, cinnamon, quince and elderflower. Layers of fruit and spice working together well to create a seamless nose. Nice intensity and drive – very good wine. Drier and more linear than others, but nice and complex. I found this a refreshing wine – the crunchy acid/phenolic interplay is well-executed.”
Strickland chose this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “An outstanding aromatic example of pinot gris,” he observed. “Super-intense pear and lychee with hazelnut. Focused acidity and some nice phenolic texture mid-palate. A creamy undertone carries through the length of the wine, giving depth. A great varietal example – such purity and intensity of fruit, with enough supporting complexity from the nutty elements. A rich and textured palate gives a layer of interest to an otherwise long and linear, acid-driven wine. This wine makes me want to sit by the fire with a nice piece of cheddar and some nuts, just to watch the wine evolve in the glass. Such amazing depth in pinot gris is a rare find.”
Lorenzato included this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “Glowing like fresh-pressed blood orange juice, with a gentle haze that promises character,” she described. “The nose is all springtime gardens and citrus groves – geranium petals mingling with ripe apricot, tangy blood orange, and a twist of pink grapefruit zest. On the palate it’s a burst of citrusy refreshment, lifted by a saline edge that makes your mouth water. The tannins slip in with just enough grip to keep things interesting, cutting through the juiciness without weighing it down. It’s playful, vibrant, and versatile – equally at home with grilled seafood, a plate of charcuterie, or just a sunny afternoon picnic.”
Quealy chose this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “Immediate aromas of melted butter and toast, then honey, earth and that musky mossy smell of the forest floor,” she noted. “Exquisite. The cool, musk-scented palate that follows is very subtle, but it makes you long for more.”
Baker had this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “This wine is very pale lemon coloured, yet has plenty of aromatic and flavour robustness,” she observed. “More mineral- or savouriness-driven, with aromas of quartz-like stony pebbles, white almonds, fennel, and a distinct salinity – like capers and Sicilian green olives backed up with light lemon pith. The palate is both refreshing and textural – chalky again, with a white earth–like flinty edge supporting lingering lighter fruit notes of lemon pith, white nectarine, and zesty green apple.”
Aylward selected this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “This wine shows appealing lees and yeast-derived notes, bringing subtle toffee and caramel complexity,” he noted. “The added texture makes it stand out from the group, while remaining clean and approachable. More towards a richer ‘gris’ over the leaner ‘grigio’, mainly due to the barrel-ferment characters. Would be equally enjoyable with or without food — try it with Indian spiced dishes or Vietnamese spring rolls for a perfect match.”
Strickland featured this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “Williams pear and cinnamon – good intensity on the nose,” he described. “Well-balanced, showing phenolic grip at the front-palate with pears and spice that start moving into a rich mid-palate and long, acid-driven finish. A more singular, focused wine – the fruit purity in the Williams pear character is intense. A summery ‘grigio’ style that isn’t as complex as others, but makes up for it with intensity and focus.”
Jallais included this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “A very pretty blushed pink colour,” he observed. “Jasmine and rose jump to the front – it’s wonderfully aromatic without feeling like a bowl of pot pourri. Another plush wine here, but the acidity is bright like neon lights – it tingles and tingles. There is gorgeous fruit here – for me it feels like gently spiced stewed peaches – and the wine just lingers with you. Such great presence in this one. Pour this out next to something salty and fatty – that’s how dreams are made.”
Grasset selected this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “A friendly, vibrant and graceful wine, this pinot gris layers ripe pear and orchard apple with a subtle almond-blossom perfume,” she noted. “Smoothly textured and long on the finish, it would pair beautifully with seafood pasta.”
Farquar selected this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “This brought to me exactly what I was hoping to see in this tasting,” she noted. “Bright, lively, with enough texture and depth to keep me interested well beyond the first sip. Pale and clear in the glass, but unassuming this wine certainly was not. I personally enjoy when riper fruit notes still show a bit of greenery – in this case, those green notes come in the form of feijoa. Pear, green apple skins, lemon and lime – this wine shows classic orchard fruit and citrus with the hint of something more. As the wine opens in the glass, I see more underripe pineapple and feijoa, which alongside the higher acidity and the gracious creamy texture make for a delightful wine. Even as a standalone wine, this was absolutely delicious.”
Baker chose this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “Lemon-coloured. Rich, nutty, almond-driven nose, with pear and savoury ginger spice,” she observed. “The textural palate is cleansed by fresh lemon, yellow peaches, and honeysuckle blossom notes – it has a lifted delicacy which lingers.”
Quealy had this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “A really good wine, showing golden honey, toasty oak, and a delicate string of spice – clove, star anise, cinnamon,” she described. “The palate is concentrated – it appears to be sweet and full, with high alcohol and perhaps some unfermentable sugars, but it does not appear to be ‘sweet’ in any common or ungainly way. It would be a pleasure to have on the table with friends – a really extravagant, ambitious wine that is lip-smackingly delicious.”
Aylward featured this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “Vibrant acidity drives this wine, supported by hints of barrel fermentation and tropical fruit notes of pineapple and lime,” he noted. “More fruit-forward in style, leaning toward ‘pinot grigio’, yet still offering a balanced palate. Refreshing and easy to drink, it would pair beautifully served well-chilled with a Thai green chicken curry.”
Jallais included this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “Now this is little different – a nicely oxidative pinot gris that is a beautiful amber colour in the glass,” he observed. “This might not be for everyone, but I bloody love it. This is a beautifully savoury and nutty gris that still retains enough fruit sweetness to offset the earthiness and salinity that comes through. The sherry-like character often found in oxidative whites is here – but it’s gentle, not jarring. Pair this with a nutty, aged cheese like Long Paddock Banksia – an absolute gem.”
Aylward chose this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “Aromatic and expressive, with lifted notes of candied pear and subtle spice,” he noted. “The palate shows stewed pear flavours, carried by good length of acidity. The finish leans toward a fresher ‘grigio’ style rather than a richer ‘gris’. While my personal preference is for the more textural, barrel-influenced styles, this wine remains a clean, refreshing quaffer that highlights the diversity of gris/grigio expressions.”
Grasset had this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “Delicate white flowers, hints of jasmine, and ripe pear perfumes,” she described. “Gentle and balanced on the palate – nothing is overpowering, allowing each flavour to shine. Its clean, lingering finish makes it a perfect companion for a tataki beef salad – leaving a sense of refined simplicity and pleasure.”
Quealy selected this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “The aroma is deep and fleshy: strawberry jam, the finest breeze of wood smoke, and wild honey,” she observed. “The complexity and the tension here shows, I think, successful maturation on lees. That complex sweet-and-savoury nose and the sensation that holds all the primary fruit together is, I suspect, the result of lees reduction. It’s the depth of aroma that follows onto the palate that is so exciting – sweet and luscious, heavy and heady, showing straw, honey, and spice. It’s at once soft and amplified.”
Jallais featured this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “Bright, fresh vibes here,” he noted. “A ton of zing and a bunch of zest – this is so refreshing. Plenty of apple and lime with long, lingering acidity. You can go back to this over and over, emptying glass after glass. This felt like a vinous version of a Peter’s icypole by the pool. Takes me back to my sixth birthday party – a pool party, no less! Great times, up until I got stung in the ear by a wasp. This wine isn’t like that stinging bit – it’s like the good bit before the stinging.”
Aylward included this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “A richer, more complex style with clear barrel-fermentation influence,” he described. “Aromas of orange peel and fennel introduce a palate full of energy, where zesty acidity builds into impressive length. Structured, vibrant, and moreish — a wine that invites you back for another sip. On the spectrum of lean grigio to richer, textural gris, this wine sits right in the middle.”
Jallais had this wine in his top six from the blind tasting. “This was another easy go-to,” he noted. “I’m a fiend for richness in my whites, and this has it in buckets. It feels like there might be some age on this one, but I’m likely wrong. When gris looks a bit oily and viscous in the glass, you hope it’s going to have some depth – and this wine has it. A bit of soft pear on the nose. Broad and mouth-filling once you’ve had a sip – it feels dense and layered, but so moreish. You can go back for sip after sip, and still not feel full.”
Baker selected this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “Again a very pale straw colour, with an upfront white pepper–spiced, matchstick-flinty nose, showing restrained lemon pith and apple fruit, raw white almond nuts, and wildflower honeycomb,” she observed. “The palate is mineral-driven, with a tingling quartz-pebbly quality balanced by unctuous Golden Delicious apples, guava, white nectarine, and jasmine flowers.”
Grasset chose this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “Pale orange in the glass. This wine has spent time on skins, giving it a lively, intriguing personality,” she noted. “Tangerine, stone fruit, and a whisper of spice greet the senses. Vibrant and textured in the mouth, it finishes long and inviting, suggesting that it would pair beautifully with roasted vegetables. A wine that feels adventurous, yet comforting.”
Baker featured this wine in her top six from the blind tasting. “This wine has a pale blush reflection, possibly indicative of slight skin contact,” she observed. “A lovely nose: high-toned aromatics of roses, berries, stone fruit, pear, and stony minerality. A light-bodied palate with layered silky texture. Flavours of strawberries, peach, and pear, with hints of a pithy, subtle amaro-like edge that provides shape and direction to the wine’s flavours.”
Gris and grigio both mean ‘grey’ in French and Italian, respectively – a reference to the fact that the variety’s berries are neither fully white nor red when properly ripe, rather range from a brown-tinged pink through to a vivid, bright purple. (Both the French and Italian languages use noir or nero, for ‘black’, to refer to red wine grapes.) The ‘pinot’ part is relatively self-explicatory – pinot gris/grigio is in fact a colour mutation of pinot noir, the unintended consequence of spontaneous mutations in the variety’s genetic code as it has been propagated via vine cuttings over centuries. Grape vine experts therefore get a bit upset when people refer to pinot gris/grigio as its own grape variety – strictly speaking, it’s a loose collection of different pinot noir clones, as is the white-berried pinot blanc. Despite this, pinot gris/grigio is functionally a very different beast to pinot noir, so it makes sense to think of it as its own variety (as the governmental agency Wine Australia does).
Because pinot noir has been widely cultivated in Europe for centuries, no one place can claim to be the sole birthplace of the gris/grigio colour mutation – it spontaneously appeared in Burgundy, France and in the Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg regions of Germany, in both cases likely around the start of the 1700s. The variety’s true homes, though, are in Alsace, France and Italy’s north-east (around the Veneto, Friuli–Venezia Giulia, and Trentino–Alto Adige regions), where two very different styles of wine made from the grape variety have emerged. In the relatively warm and dry Alsace region, pinot gris has become both a workhorse grape for simpler textural whites, as well as making profound dry wines when grown in favoured ‘grand cru’ sites – luscious and ripe wines, sometimes with a hint of smoke, that can develop biscuity characters as they age. The variety’s propensity to developing botrytis also makes Alsatian pinot gris a canvas for some of the great sweet wines of the world. A surprisingly large quantity of the variety is grown across the border in Germany, where it is known as grauburgunder (literally ‘grey Burgundy’) and turned into wines that are broadly similar to entry-level Alsatian examples, albeit a little fresher and lighter in alcohol. In Italy, by contrast, the variety is usually turned into very crisp and fresh (but often blandly neutral) dry white wines.
The fact that the variety goes by both French and Italian names in Australia creates a lot of confusion for consumers, leading to some to believe that the names refer to separate varieties – not to mention some interesting hybrid pronunciations that attempt to split the difference between ‘gris’ and ‘grigio’. Broadly speaking, though, the name a winemaker chooses for the label should in theory indicate the style the wine has been made in – ‘gris’ indicating that the wine is more akin to the textural, richer styles of Alsace and has potentially seen some barrel work, while ‘grigio’ points towards Italian-inspired zippy, dry, and mineral styles usually fermented in stainless steel. As with all things in wine, though, the devil is in the detail – and the picture for gris/grigio is a little more complex here in Australia than a simple binary would suggest. To understand this, though, we’ll first have to take a little detour via the Veneto.
While many of the world’s producers and consumers consider those honeyed, opulent Alsatian pinot gris wines to be the benchmark of what the variety can achieve, its real engine-room is Italy’s north-east. At the most recent global grape variety census (2017), Italy lead the world’s plantings of the variety, with approximately 25,000 hectares under vine. Most Italian pinot grigio is grown in the north, primarily the Veneto (38%), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (27%) and Trentino-Alto Adige (17%). The easygoing and wildly popular wines that are made under the Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie DOC, which can source grapes from anywhere within those three large administrative regions, are the wines most likely to conform to the idea of a crisp, simple Italian style.
That style, in turn, derives from one specific brand – Santa Margherita. Count Gaetano Marzotto founded the estate that would go on to be called Santa Margherita in 1935, having won the land in a bet – a thousand or so hectares of what was essentially Veneto swampland, at the time populated only by mosquitoes and muskrats. While he eventually rehabilitated that land and planted much of it with vines, the fruit for Marzotto’s original pinot grigio wine came from Alto Adige. (The estate now makes a specific regional bottling from Alto Adige fruit.) The wine was one of the first table whites in Italy made in a clean and technically-focused way, with Marzotto having been inspired by the making of sparkling prosecco wines in steel tanks. He pressed the grapes quickly and used refrigerated fermentation vessels and other modern techniques to avoid taking on colour and tannin from the grape’s skin – instead focusing on bringing out the variety’s pear, citrus and white floral side in the finished wine. The first vintage, 1960, was a revelation for its time, and proved quite successful on the domestic market when it was released in the February of the following year.
It wasn’t until 1979, though, that Santa Margherita really took flight. That year, the American wine importer Anthony Terlato discovered the wine, and saw an opportunity. After convincing the Count to enter Santa Margherita in a blind tasting, it triumphed as Italy’s finest white wine – in the States, at least. What followed was a mammoth global success story that continues to this day, with some 6.6 million of Santa Margherita’s annual production of ten million bottles sent to the American market, where the variety remains practically synonymous with this one producer. While Santa Margherita’s pinot grigio wasn’t a bargain-priced wine, it was democratically affordable – and it spawned a legion of imitators that charged considerably less, alongside a pinot grigio planting boom. While Italy’s vineyard area has been shrinking in general, declining 20% over the fifteen years prior to 2017, the area dedicated to pinot grigio increased by 34% in that time period, making it one of only two varieties to buck the downward trend. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, the other variety was prosecco, which grew 24% in the same period.)
Choice of grape variety aside, Marzotto’s wine was not unlike the riesling and semillon-based whites that were starting to be made in Australia around the same time. This was a period when technology was starting to have a significant impact on wine, and technically precise, scientifically minded winemaking became the order of the day. Refrigeration, sterile filtration, pneumatic presses, effective yeast cultures, stainless steel tanks … these all changed the course of white wine in the twentieth century. This was especially true for pinot grigio, because the pinky-purple nature of grigio’s skin means it can have a significant impact on the finished wine, even if contact is kept very brief.
Prior to Santa Margherita’s technical innovations, Italian pinot grigios would have invariably had some shade of coppery blush, as some contact between the juice and those bright purple skins is inevitable in traditional wine presses. That coppery tinge had been taken further in Friuli, where the ‘ramato’ tradition saw pinot grigio wines rest an even longer time on skins to create a purposefully deeper hue (ramato means ‘coppery’ in Italian). In addition to deepening the colour, this process also imparts more tannic grip, structure, texture, and flavour to the finished wine, courtesy of chemical compounds known as phenols present in the skins.
Even without skin contact, the grigios of Italy vary greatly. The alluvial soils of the Isonzo and Grave plains in Friuli make finer, more gravelly wines. Heading to the hillier country of Collio and Colli Orientali near the Slovenian border, the wines from the sandstone and marl soils (locally called ponca) can be quite powerful – intensely flavoured and full-bodied. Over in Alto Adige, the morainal soils (formed by ancient glaciers), elevated cool climate and ample sunshine can result in crystalline, pure wines with impressive fruit depth. The small-scale, artisanal pinot grigios of Italy are a vastly more diverse and delicious set of wines than the Italian take on the variety’s reputation, driven by Santa Margherita and its lookalikes, has lead many to believe.
In Friuli, winemakers are returning to the region’s roots and are once again making ramato styles of grigio, which had been all but wiped out once local makers started to emulate Santa Margherita. One of the champions of the ramato style was Livio Felluga, whose wine was already in the American market before Santa Margherita. Like Marzotto’s wine, Felluga’s was also bright and fruit-forward, employing some of those modern methods – but Felluga’s had a gentle petroleum-like tinge of copper, and it remains that way today. More radically minded producers such as Josko Gravner and Stanko Radikon took skin contact further, leaving their white wines on skins for extended periods and ageing them in clay amphorae or old oak (respectively). Those producers and their descendants are now focused on white varieties indigenous to the region such as ribolla gialla, but the impression they made on a global cohort of pinot grigio producers with their skin-contact versions was nothing short of profound.
Catalogued as ‘pineau gris’ in Busby’s list of imported vine cuttings in the 1830s, the variety never made a lasting impression in early Australian viticulture. In fact, no extant pinot gris/grigio vines in Australia descend from Busby’s initial importation – all current plantings come from more modern sources. The first was via Charles Sturt University at Wagga Wagga in the late ’70s, where viticulturist Dr. Max Loder, assisted by Brian Croser and Tony Jordan, had planted the grape from a UC Davis clone (identified as ‘D1V7’) in a nursery block of mixed varieties. “Max was an ardent champion of the variety, much to my scepticism. I always thought it a mundane version of ‘the real thing’, pinot noir, and said so to Max,” Croser recalled in a 2017 interview with Young Gun of Wine. Reflecting on the variety’s later success, Croser added, “[But] Max was correct. He was a very determined and thoughtful character and should be remembered for his commitment to pinot gris.”
“Max was an ardent champion of the variety, much to my scepticism. I always thought it a mundane version of ‘the real thing’, pinot noir, and said so to Max. But Max was correct.”
Although it had been planted elsewhere, pinot gris/grigio’s moment in the sun came when winemakers Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy saw its potential for the Mornington Peninsula. The pair were making wine for others in the region in the late 80s, with pinot noir and chardonnay the order of the day for the Peninsula (as they still are). Going against the vogue of the time for big, opulent chardonnays, Quealy believed that the relatively cool and long growing season of the region was perfect for flavoursome white wines that didn’t need the seasoning of new oak. Convincing her employers at the time was another matter, though – so the pair established their T’Gallant label in 1990, with the first release being an unoaked chardonnay, followed by a pinot noir rosé early the following year.
The pair also believed that the region’s climate would excel for pinot gris/grigio, and they were drawn to the variety’s versatility to craft different styles of wine. They tried to convince the growers they worked with to plant it – but their approach was about as successful as trying to convince their former employers to make more refined examples of chardonnay. Quealy claims that they would have approached over fifty growers at the time, before finally sourcing some gris/grigio fruit in 1992. They decided to plant the variety at T’Gallant in ’94, deliberately organising the plantings so their site would readily yield two different styles of fruit – one leaner, and one that would achieve higher ripeness.
T’Gallant’s early experiments in the variety yielded a few different bottlings, some labelled ‘gris’ and some ‘grigio’, following – or perhaps establishing for this country – the traditional stylistic line between the two. From crisp and bright aperitif-style numbers to those riper, more textural Alsace-inspired wines – and taking in some late-harvest dessert styles, too – T’Gallant defined the variety in this country and built a market for it. That success (alongside their other well-regarded wines) saw the brand eventually purchased by corporate behemoth Treasury Wine Estates in 2003, with McCarthy and Quealy using the proceeds of the sale to bankroll their own Peninsula estate, Quealy Winemakers.
Even though T’Gallant’s gris/grigio wines had a significant impact, it took a little longer for the variety to take off in a broader commercial context. But catch on it eventually did. In 2004, only 329 hectares of plantings were recorded around the country, yet by 2012 there were 3,767 hectares – a more than elevenfold increase in a mere eight years. And while the last national vineyard area survey took place in 2015, the variety’s contribution in tonnes to the national crush shows that its presence in Australia continues to grow. Pinot gris/grigio is now the third most important white wine grape variety in Australia by weight, with 92,714 tonnes (nearly 13% of all white wine grapes) crushed in 2025. That’s an enormous achievement for a variety that was included in the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show up until 2009 – and proof that it has truly entered Australian wine’s mainstream.
There is little doubt that the bulk of Australia’s gris/grigio is the Davis clone D1V7, propagated via Wagga Wagga, which has a propensity to high vigour and yield. That propensity is no doubt a boon to growers keener on volume than character – and there are plenty of those, given that just over 70% of Australia’s gris/grigio in 2025 was grown in the hot, irrigated inland zones of South Eastern Australia. You might, therefore, be tempted to cast D1V7 as the villain of the gris/grigio story in Australia – just as the merlot clone D3V14 has been denounced as the source of merlot’s bad reputation on these shores. But it’s a clone that Quealy believes can be highly successful when it’s managed as you would any other vines intended for quality wine.
“The main clone in Australia is shaped like and behaves like MV6 pinot noir,” she says, “a small-berried, small-bunch variety. Australia was fortunate to begin its pinot gris journey with such a superior clone, and I suspect that is why little attention has been spent finding alternative ones.” D1V7’s ability to both make premium wine and also service a price-competitive market no doubt gives it a distinct advantage.
“Australia was fortunate to begin its pinot gris journey with such a superior clone, and I suspect that is why little attention has been spent finding alternative ones.”
In 2001 the Chalmers vine nursery added some genetic diversity to the country’s plantings with a clone taken from Friuli named VCR5, which is lower-yielding and thus generally more intense in flavour. It also has a looser bunch structure that is less prone to botrytis – the famous ‘noble rot’ that isn’t always quite so noble if you want to make quality dry wines. Kim Chalmers believes the original clone first came into Victoria in about 1964, before making its way to Wagga Wagga. “Apparently there are also others,” she says. “D1V10 and E6V3 both CSIRO, 1968 and INRA, NSW, 1969 – although I have never heard of them being commercially planted/propagated or used anywhere.”
Site matters, too. While Quealy believes that the hot, irrigated inland regions may produce good enough fruit for simpler wines, she argues that you need the right conditions to make quality textural wine. “I think pinot gris has grown up in Australia,” she says. “And notions about skin colour are top of the list of concerns. When pinot gris is grown in regions of great heat and sunshine, there’s a tendency to hide the grapes in a lush overhanging canopy, but grapes are green rather than the deep purple necessary to signal full ripeness.”
Quealy argues that grapes with green skins will produce similarly green flavours in the fruit and wines: “Pinot gris is susceptible to vegetal aromas and tastes when canopies are piled with leaves and the sunshine does not hit the grapes,” she says, noting that dulled colour in the fruit can also be a warning sign. “In my experience, the vivid purple can brown up in poorer years, perhaps with the overapplication of irrigation. I think in premium pinot gris, the vines are treated as pinot noir – maximum exposure and minimum or zero irrigation.”
As you would expect from a pioneer of the region, Quealy is an advocate for the cool climate of the Mornington Peninsula for gris/grigio – and she believes that the soil profile is just as important as a long ‘hang time’ to obtain ripe, healthy grapes. “Pinot gris grown in deeper soils with corresponding longer hang times – typical of, say, Main Ridge, Red Hill and parts of Adelaide Hills – requires massive exposure to cool sunshine to ripen its flavours and to avoid the latent botrytis emerging in the moist late autumn,” she says. She notes that lighter soils generally can’t sustain a canopy healthy enough to keep the grapes replenished over a long season.
While Quealy and McCarthy were also trailblazers for skin-contact white wines in Australia, Quealy generally prefers not to employ skin contact in her pinot gris/grigio wines. That’s a personal stylistic choice – but other Australian makers are increasingly using skin contact as a component of gris/grigio wines, creating an array of wines from those that look like classic Provence-styled rosés to those that possess deep cherry-red colours, intense red fruit flavours, and red wine–like tannic structures.
Meg Brodtmann MW, winemaker and wine educator at Prince Wine Store, believes that skins can add plenty of complexity: “Extended skin contact followed by pressing allows you to extract some phenolics and colour,” she says. “Phenolics are a bit like baby tannins, adding mouthfeel and grip to skin-contact wine. Extended skin contact, say four to twenty-four hours, also extracts more flavour and aroma compounds as well as adding to that oily texture you sometimes get in gris.”Brodtmann notes that the colour will naturally increase with longer time on skins, too, as the grape’s pigments (also known as anthocyanins) are held in the skins – but she believes that the most important contribution of the technique is tannin and flavour. “When I’ve made a full skins gris, I leave the wine on skins for anywhere between three weeks to three months, but taste every day to check the grippiness and ensure balance in the wine. For me, it is all about layering on complexity and structure,” she says.
Kate McIntyre MW is a strong advocate for the classic Alsace-inspired ‘gris style’ that her family’s Mooroooduc Estate label makes, which has become a Mornington Peninsula staple – but she is almost evangelical in her love for Moorooduc’s skinsy version. “The colour we get in the skin of our pinot gris is so intense that it seems a shame to just chuck them out,” she says, “and when we ferment on skins you can really see the family resemblance between pinots gris and noir, and I think that is why I am such a fan.” She adds: “The aroma and flavour profile changes from pear, quince and honey to rhubarb, strawberry, pomegranate, salted plums and pickled ginger, and the phenolics are also really satisfying. The best skin-fermented pinot gris behave like very light red wines and they work so well with lots of foods that are quite difficult to match to wine – tomato, artichokes, chilli, raw fish, wasabi. Also, that colour is so damn pretty!”
“Phenolics are a bit like baby tannins, adding mouthfeel and grip to skin-contact wine. Extended skin contact, say four to twenty-four hours, also extracts more flavour and aroma compounds.”
That process is taken to further extremes by some makers, whose wines might not only see extended skin contact but also whole-bunch fermentation – polar opposites of the light, bright and mineral Italian ‘grigio style’ that many Australian wine drinkers cut their teeth on. These skinsy wines can evoke pinot noir, or they can show interesting bitter notes that lend them a kinship to vermouth and Italian aperitivo bitters such as Campari. Complex wines, in other words, and not for everyone – but entirely valid expressions of the variety. Alongside richer, more textural Alsace-inspired ‘gris style’ wines – not to mention the emergence of some truly high-quality Australian examples of the Italian-inspired ‘grigio style’ that show interest and character without sacrificing refreshment – they show just what a vibrantly interesting grape variety pinot gris/grigio really is, no matter what name it might go by.
Our panel: Kathleen Quealy, proprietor and winemaker, Quealy Winemakers; Mike Aylward, proprietor and winemaker, Ocean Eight; Chris Strickland, winemaker, Foxey’s Hangout; Iona Baker, sales representative, Trembath & Taylor; Clarissa Lorenzato, sommelier and wine merchant, l’Enoteca at Mercato Centrale; Tristan Jallais, proprietor and wine merchant, Natural Science Wine & Liquor; Marie Grasset, restaurant manager and wine buyer, Barragunda Dining; Hayley Farquar, wine merchant and sommelier, City Wine Shop.
The panel commenced with a robust discussion about the stylistic differences between wines labelled ‘gris’ and ‘grigio’, and what those terms actually might mean in an Australian context. Lorenzato, who was born and raised in Italy’s Veneto region, gave an international perspective: “I think Australia’s more specific about this than Europe,” she said. “Italian producers will just label it pinot grigio – even if they’re making it skin-contact, or even if they’re making a bolder style … I honestly encounter the distinction way more here in Australia , where you have the concept that ‘pinot gris’ should be made more in the Alsatian style, than in Europe.” She added that in Europe the distinction between ‘gris’ and ‘grigio’ is more linguistic than stylistic: “We really don’t distinguish between the two!”
Baker agreed, adding that, in her experience, the distinction between the two broad camps breaks down with experience of the variety’s nuances. “Even I struggle with the difference between ‘gris’ and ‘grigio’,” she said. “And that’s coming from someone who’s pretty much solely dealing with Italian imports.” She added that it’s not uncommon in her line of work to see wines labelled ‘grigio’ that have a surprising amount of depth and nuance: “I’ll look at a grigio and think – ‘Oh, that’s had a bit more work to it. That producer does more’,” she said. “It’s only when I start to see a little more barrel work that I think, ‘Oh, that does look a bit more gris-like, or Alsace-like – it’s a little bit spicier.’” Referring back to the day’s lineup, she said, “There were quite big differences between a lot of these wines – but there were also a lot of similarities between a lot of these wines.”
“Pinot gris is a very luxurious style – it’s honey and spice, and the palate is seamless and generous. Pinot grigio to me needs some good movement in it – you might give up a little bit of flavour for a bit of style.”
Quealy, who was one of the first Australian winemakers to make a distinction between the two synonyms on her labels, argued for the importance of differentiating between two broad camps of wines made from the same variety: “You’re trying to promote two quite different styles,” she argued. “Pinot gris is a very luxurious style – it’s a super-luxe style, it’s honey and spice, and the palate is seamless and generous. Pinot grigio to me needs some good movement in it – you might give up a little bit of flavour for a bit of style.” While the distinction between the French and the Italian names for the variety might cause some confusion amongst wine consumers, she argued that the names used for other varietally-labelled wines could be just as confusing: “Even with chardonnay, you’ve got those big, generous chardonnays, and then you’ve got those very flinty chardonnays. So it’s really always the same problem.”
Jallais observed that while wine professionals might want to split hairs about the difference between the two camps, the market had already picked a winner. “Grigio is soaring,” he said. “For a lot of reasons: the way it tastes; the way it’s made; and people also like to say it … it’s easy to pronounce.” He added: “In our store, we’re selling four or five bottles of grigio for every sauv blanc that walks out the door. And then ‘gris’, beyond that, becomes more of a wine drinker’s wine – that tends to be the difference.”
“We’re selling four or five bottles of grigio for every sauv blanc that walks out the door. And then ‘gris’, beyond that, becomes more of a wine drinker’s wine – that tends to be the difference.”
Strickland had observed the opposite at his cellar door – that ‘gris’ styles carried more prestige than ‘grigio’ styles. “We make a grigio, and people go, ‘We like that wine – but actually, we want to spend ten dollars more and buy your gris’,” he said. “They perceive it as more serious.” He added: “But every time I ask the customer, ‘What do you think of gris versus grigio?’, a lot of them go, ‘I don’t know. We don’t know.’ So there’s a lot of misconception out there.”
Aylward argued that, whichever expression was more popular in retail settings, the versatility of ‘gris’ styles with a broad range of cuisines meant they had a natural home in restaurants. “It goes really well with Asian food – it can handle Thai food, Vietnamese food, Indian food, and they’re cuisines that not many wines can match with,” he said. “The chefs have shifted from using a lot of Italian and French ingredients to more Asian flavours. You see it right through Melbourne and Sydney – I think that’s why gris has become a really popular wine to go with those foods.” He added that this food-friendliness isn’t just about winemaking, but also careful viticulture: “If you get the slow ripening, then you get the flavour – and that’s the key,” he said. “To get that texture and flavour, you need those grapes to ripen slowly. And then they maintain a good acidity as well – so then you get clean freshness, but good palate weight, too.”
“Pinot gris goes really well with Asian food – it can handle Thai food, Vietnamese food, Indian food, and they’re cuisines that not many wines can match with.”
Grasset said that while certain producers of grigio/gris had established fan bases, the variety itself sometimes struggles on restaurant wine lists because it can be pigeonholed as an ‘alternative variety’. “People don’t even look at it,” she said. Speaking to the Mornington Peninsula producers in the room, she said, “They know you well, so your gris wines are selling quite fast at the restaurant – but otherwise it’s mostly chardonnay and pinot noir, and they don’t want to go beyond those. Even a sauvignon blanc that’s from France, there’ll be a reaction like, ‘Ugh, it’s sauvignon blanc – no way!’” She added: “The sommelier is here to connect with the guest – so they can say, ‘Well, I’m usually drinking …’, but at the same time they shouldn’t be telling the guest, ‘You need to drink this’.”
Farquar argued that part of the sommelier’s role is to educate, but not in an obnoxious way: “We have these people, they walk in and they say, ‘Can I get a pinot grizh?’,” she said – referring to a common split-the-difference approach to pronouncing gris/grigio. “I’m not going stand there and go, ‘Well, actually, the difference between pinot gris and pinot grigio is …’, because they don’t care at the end of the day. They just want something that’s delicious.” She added: “My first question is, simply, ‘What do you usually like to drink?’ Because clearly the label doesn’t mean anything to them.”
Despite helping to establish the gris/grigio dichotomy in Australia, Quealy remained sanguine about whichever name that consumers used for the variety. “The fact that people call it ‘grizh’ is even funny,” she said. “Because for them, it’s just a glass of wine. For us, it’s a living. That’s just the interface, though, isn’t it?”
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