t o n i p gris BY
Pinot Gris is an official variety grown in Champagne, a staple in the Südtirol of Northern Italy and a noble variety in Alsace. Pinot Grigio, Grauer Burgunder, Rulander, Sivi Pinot and Szürkebarat are all the same variety of cépage that is grown and sought after the world over. We call it Pinot Gris or just Gris and our version can make excellent wine. There are 12 different clones of Pinot Gris available to growers in New Zealand, each suited to different soil types, climate conditions and resistance to disease. It is a lot harder to grow than you might think – it tends to want to crop heavily on the vine and while this might be good for volume it’s not so good for flavour concentration and texture. Gris is also a variety that doesn’t produce a lot of acidity naturally, it does increase in cooler climates, but if cropped too heavily flavours become dilute and the resulting wines can often be manipulated into a specific style. Fortunately, Pinot Gris is very popular here and is grown in all ten wine regions of New Zealand, this means the range of expressions from weightier, fleshier styles from Northland are different from the leaner more mineral expressions from Otago. Pinot Gris and oak are usually good friends, but too much new or toasty barrel can make Gris taste too woody and sweet. The emerging use of lees stirring or extended lees contact, skin contact or simply bottling unfined and unfiltered are showing the breadth and depth this variety has and natural styles that are available.
S MS
DOUGLA CAMERON
1
2
Cameron Douglas is New Zealand’s first and only Master Sommelier. An experienced wine writer, commentator, judge, reviewer, presenter and consultant, he is the Beverage Director & Group Sommelier for Rodd & Gunn and is Patron of the New Zealand Sommeliers and Wine Professionals Association. Formerly academically in charge of the Wine and Beverage at AUT in Auckland, Douglas has also consulted to a variety of establishments, taking care of their wine lists, wine and food pairings, and staff training matters and he currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Court of Master Sommeliers Americas. 24 THE SHOUT NZ – FEBRUARY 2022
