Harvest Series 2021: Week 3
The start of a new week means another in-depth look at the grapes we're bringing in this week. We start our week off with beautiful Pinot Gris grapes coming into the winery. While many will be more familiar with Pinot Grigio, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris are the same grape, just stylistically treated in different ways. The Pinot Gris grape is a mutation of the ever-popular Pinot Noir, which many say is the reason for Pinot Gris' deeper colour. Pinot Gris grapes are oftentimes greyish blue to brownish pink, which can lead to colours that most are not used to finding in white wines. Pinot Gris is also one of the common grapes that some winemakers choose to use for skin-fermented white wines, or orange wines (we'll dive into this another day). While Pinot Grigio can be found on almost any restaurant wine list, and many wineries create delicious wines from the grapes, there is more to it than meets the eye.
Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio is a wine that everyone knows and loves. We produce more Pinot Grigio than anything else at Lakeview Wine Co., and we do a darn good job at doing it too. Pinot Grigio wines are typically light in body, every so subtly sweet but incredibly fresh and lively. Notes of green apple, pear, and citrus can be found dancing across one's palate when tasting Pinot Grigio. Here at Lakeview, we do two main Pinot Grigio's, our EastDell Pinot Grigio, as well as our 20 Bees Pinot Grigio. Our EastDell Pinot Grigio has a touch of floral sweetness at the back of the palate, with notes of green apple, melon, and orchard fruits, with refreshing minerality as well. Our 20 Bees Pinot Grigio (Gold and Silver Medal winner at the 2019 and 2020 ACWC respectively) has notes of honey, peaches, and orchard fruits, with a beautiful long-lasting finish to it.
Pinot Gris
Pinot Gris is unfortunately a style of wine that not many people are able to try and appreciate. Pinot Gris wines will typically be slightly heavier in the body compared to Pinot Grigio, with more complex notes of pear, spice, and delicate perfume characteristics. Pinot Gris will typically be richer and smoother across the palate, and these wines will sometimes find themselves undergoing malolactic fermentation (again, we'll go over this in the near future) to aid in the body of the wine. Pinot Gris will have a slightly deeper and more gray colour to them, which many will find off or 'weird' compared to what they're used to, but it is all coming from the skins of the grapes themselves, which some Pinot Gris wines will have a few days of skin contact to extract said colour as well as flavours.
Whether it is a crisp glass of Pinot Grigio while sitting poolside or pairing with almost anything under the sun, or enjoying a glass of Pinot Gris at a dinner party, we recommend exploring what the Niagara has in terms of Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio wines, you won't be disappointed.
