Wines made from Pinot gris grapes of Rhone Valley
Discover the best wines made with Pinot gris as a single variety or as a blend of Rhone Valley.
Pinot Gris is a grey grape variety mutated from Pinot Noir. It has its origins in Burgundy, where it is called pinot-beurot in reference to the colour of the grey robes worn by the monks of the region. Established in Alsace since the 17th century, pinot gris was called tokay until 2007. It is made up of bunches of small berries that vary in colour from pink to blue-grey. It is particularly well suited to the continental climate because it is resistant to the cold in winter and to spring frosts. This variety also likes dry limestone soils with plenty of sunshine in the summer. Pinot Gris is well suited to late harvesting or to the selection of noble grapes, depending on the year and the concentration of sugars in the berries. Pinot Gris wines are distinguished by their aromatic complexity of white fruits, mushrooms, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, etc., and their great finesse. In the Loire Valley, pinot gris is used in the Coteaux-d'Ancenis appellations. It gives dry or sweet wines with pear and peach aromas.
The Rhone Valley is a key wine-producing region in Southeastern France. It follows the North-south course of the Rhône for nearly 240 km, from Lyon to the Rhône delta (Bouches-du-Rhône), near the Mediterranean coast. The Length of the valley means that Rhône wines are the product of a wide variety of soil types and mesoclimates. The viticultural areas of the region cover such a distance that there is a widely accepted division between its northern and southern parts.
I’d visited Kakheti, Kartli and Imereti before – Georgia’s dominant central wine-producing zones; but never the wild exterior. From the ice-crisped cemetery grass of the 11th-century church of St George, dominating the mountaintop village of Mravaldzali, we looked north across the mountains of the Greater Caucasus, Europe’s highest. The silence, and the vista, was daunting. Hundreds of dry, drab valleys lost themselves in as many snowy peaks. Russia lay beyond. There was, apparently, a way over: ...
The course will be taught by the masters of vineyard management, Simonit & Sirch, and their Master Pruner, Jacopo Miolo. Lake County sits north of California’s most famed region, the Napa Valley, but the techniques being taught by Miolo (in both English and Spanish) are employed at an impressive list of wineries. Their client list includes some of the world’s most renowned producers; Château d‘Yquem, Chateau Latour, and Roederer, among others. In Napa, names like Corison, Diamond Creek, Sha ...
Given the sheer climatic diversity, the California 2022 harvest was a story of variability, specific varieties and varied approaches to making it all work out. Yields are down, nearly across the board. Still, winemakers and vineyard managers report high-quality fruit throughout the state, and the prediction is that the potential for fantastic, complex wines is high. There was tremendous variability up and down (as well as across) the state. An uneven growing season, with uneven effects throughou ...