Pinot Grigio vs Pinot Gris: What Is the Difference?

One of the questions I am asked most often is: what is the difference between Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris?

The simple answer is that they are the same grape variety.

The more useful answer is that the two names have come to describe different winemaking traditions. Pinot Grigio usually signals a lighter, crisper and more direct style, shaped by the wines of north-eastern Italy. Pinot Gris usually suggests a riper, broader and more textural expression, most famously associated with Alsace in France.

That distinction is useful, but it is not biological. The grape does not change when the name changes. What changes is the intention behind the wine: where it is grown, when it is picked, how it is pressed, whether it is fermented in tank or barrel, how it is handled on lees and whether the final balance is completely dry or retains a little sweetness.

At Weathercraft, we use the name Pinot Gris because texture, site and winemaking are central to both expressions we produce.

Are Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris the same grape?

Yes. Gris is French for grey and grigio is Italian for grey. Both names refer to the unusual colour of the grape’s skin.

Pinot Gris is used to make white wine, but it is not a conventional white-skinned variety. It is a colour mutation of Pinot Noir. Its berries can range from dusty pink and mauve to copper, reddish brown and blue-grey, depending on the clone, site, ripeness and individual bunch.

This is why Pinot Gris wines can vary so much in colour. When the fruit is pressed quickly and the juice is separated from the skins, the wine may be almost colourless. With slower pressing or deliberate skin contact, more pigment can be extracted, producing pale rose-gold, salmon or copper tones.

The traditional Italian term ramato, meaning copper-coloured, describes Pinot Grigio made with enough skin contact to draw colour and texture from those naturally pigmented skins.

Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and the wider Pinot family

Pinot Gris belongs to one of the oldest and most genetically changeable families of cultivated wine grapes.

The best-known members include:

Pinot Noir, the dark-skinned form associated particularly with Burgundy and Champagne
Pinot Gris, the grey-pink mutation
Pinot Blanc, a white-skinned mutation
Pinot Meunier, another mutation of Pinot Noir, widely used in Champagne

The vines can look remarkably similar before the fruit changes colour. Pinot’s tendency to mutate also explains why numerous selections and clones have been identified over time.

The name Pinot is commonly linked to the French word for pine, because its compact bunches resemble small pine cones. Pinot Gris is generally understood to have emerged from the wider Pinot family in Burgundy before spreading through France, Italy, Germany and Central Europe.

This genetic relationship is more than a historical curiosity. Pinot Gris retains some of the structural potential of its darker-skinned relative. Its skins can contribute phenolics, spice, grip and texture, allowing the variety to produce far more serious wines than its reputation as an uncomplicated commercial white sometimes suggests.

What is Italian Pinot Grigio?

The modern Pinot Grigio style is most closely associated with north-eastern Italy, particularly:

Veneto
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Trentino
Alto Adige

The broad Delle Venezie denomination spans Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the autonomous province of Trento, reflecting how important the variety has become across Italy’s north-east.

A classic Pinot Grigio from this tradition is generally:

harvested relatively early
pale in colour
dry
light to medium bodied
crisp and refreshing
driven by citrus, green apple and fresh pear
fermented in stainless steel or another neutral vessel
made for early drinking

Earlier picking retains acidity and limits the sugar, alcohol and broader fruit character that develop with greater ripeness. Neutral handling preserves freshness rather than adding flavour from oak or prolonged maturation.

This style became enormously successful because it is direct, recognisable and easy to drink. But it would be a mistake to assume that all Italian Pinot Grigio is simple or neutral.

In Friuli, Collio and Alto Adige, lower yields, hillside vineyards, cooler conditions and more attentive lees work can produce Pinot Grigio with real concentration, mineral detail and longevity. The distinction is not between “serious Pinot Gris” and “unserious Pinot Grigio”. It is between different decisions about ripeness, extraction, texture and purpose.

What is Alsace Pinot Gris?

Pinot Gris is one of the defining white varieties of Alsace in north-eastern France.

Compared with the classic Italian model, Alsace Pinot Gris is generally picked riper and made with greater body, concentration and texture. Typical characters can include:

ripe pear and yellow apple
quince and stone fruit
honey and spice
smoke or earth
fuller body
substantial phenolic texture
moderate to high alcohol
residual sugar in some examples

Pinot Gris is recognised among the noble varieties of Alsace and may be used for Alsace Grand Cru wines, as well as late-harvest Vendange Tardive and botrytised Sélection de Grains Nobles.

Older bottles may carry the names Tokay d’Alsace or Tokay Pinot Gris. Those names have been phased out, and the wine has no genetic relationship with Hungary’s Tokaji wines.

What Alsace has long understood is that Pinot Gris does not have to be stripped of ripeness or personality to remain balanced. The variety can carry sweetness, phenolics, alcohol and considerable flavour, provided there is enough freshness and structure to hold everything together.

What is Pinot Gris called in Germany?

In Germany, Pinot Gris is most commonly called Grauburgunder, meaning grey Burgundian.

The older name Ruländer is also used. It is associated with Johann Seger Ruland, who propagated the variety in the Palatinate during the early eighteenth century before it was recognised as Pinot Gris.

The two names can loosely imply different styles:

Grauburgunder generally suggests a modern, dry expression
Ruländer may suggest a richer, riper or sweeter wine

Important German regions include Baden, Pfalz and Rheinhessen. German examples often occupy useful ground between the Italian and Alsatian traditions: fresher and more restrained than many Alsace wines, but generally broader and more textural than basic Pinot Grigio.

Why can Pinot Gris be both crisp and richly textured?

Pinot Gris has an unusually broad stylistic range, but it is also a variety that must be handled carefully.

Picked too early, it can be thin, neutral and aggressively acidic. Left too late, sugar can rise quickly while acidity falls, creating wines that feel broad or heavy without enough energy.

Much depends on:

site and climate
crop load
canopy exposure
bunch and berry size
harvest timing
pressing decisions
skin contact
fermentation vessel
lees handling
malolactic fermentation
residual sugar

A lightly cropped, ripe parcel fermented in barrel will produce a very different wine from higher-cropped fruit picked earlier and fermented cool in stainless steel—even when the clone is identical.

That adaptability is one of the reasons Pinot Gris interests me.

Where is Pinot Gris grown in Australia?

Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are grown across Australia, from high-volume inland regions to cool maritime and elevated districts.

Regions particularly associated with the variety include:

King Valley
Alpine Valleys
Mornington Peninsula
Yarra Valley
Beechworth
Macedon Ranges
Geelong
Adelaide Hills
Tasmania
Pemberton
parts of the Riverina and other inland regions

Australian Pinot Gris plantings expanded considerably as drinkers developed an appetite for both the crisp Italian style and the more textural French interpretation. Pinot Gris had become one of Australia’s more widely planted white varieties by the late 2010s.

The Mornington Peninsula was particularly influential in establishing premium Australian Pinot Gris. Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy were important early advocates for treating the variety as a serious, textural wine rather than merely an alternative label for a neutral white.

Brown Brothers also played a major role in introducing a broader Australian audience to both Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris, particularly through its long connection with the King Valley and north-eastern Victoria.

Today, the name chosen for an Australian label generally acts as a stylistic guide:

Pinot Grigio tends to mean lighter, crisper and more linear.

Pinot Gris tends to mean riper, fuller and more textural.

It remains a convention rather than a formal rule, but it gives the drinker a useful indication of what the winemaker intended.

D1V7: an Alsatian clone with an Australian history

Both of our Pinot Gris wines are made from the same clone: D1V7.

D1V7 was originally selected in Alsace, France, and imported and registered in Australia in 1964. It has a quality rating of moderate to high and is now regarded as the most widely planted Pinot Gris clone in Australia.

The clone typically produces moderate bunch sizes and yields, although young vines can over-crop if they are not carefully managed. It responds well to shoot thinning around EL stages 12–15, when the developing inflorescences are visible and crop potential can be assessed. Under suitable conditions and with balanced yields, D1V7 can produce highly aromatic and textural wines.

Some growers and winemakers prefer other Pinot Gris clones, often seeking smaller bunches, lower natural yields or particular flavour characteristics. My own experience of D1V7 has been extremely positive.

What I value most is its versatility.

The clone is used across both of our Pinot Gris wines, yet the resulting wines could hardly be more different. One is sourced from the King Valley and shaped towards an aromatic, gently rounded style with an Alsatian influence. The other comes from Beechworth, is barrel fermented and made with techniques more commonly associated with Chardonnay.

Despite those differences, both wines remain recognisably Pinot Gris. The fresh pear and orchard-fruit character, aromatic lift and natural capacity for texture remain present, but the final expression changes with place, ripeness and winemaking.

To me, this is one of D1V7’s strengths. It does not force every vineyard into the same form. It can express its site and respond to the way it is handled while retaining the variety’s essential freshness and fruit.

Two vineyards, one clone, two distinct Pinot Gris wines

At Weathercraft, I do not believe Pinot Gris should be restricted to one narrow model.

The variety is capable of freshness and delicacy, but it also has enough skin, flavour and phenolic structure to make layered, gastronomic wine. Our two expressions sit deliberately apart, showing how the same grape and clone can respond to different places and different winemaking choices.

King Valley Pinot Gris: a nod to Alsace

Our King Valley Pinot Gris takes its broad inspiration from Alsace rather than from the lightest Italian Pinot Grigio tradition.

The aim is an aromatic, textural wine with freshness and balance—not heaviness.

The fruit naturally lends itself to characters such as:

pear and orchard fruit
gentle spice
floral lift
rounded texture
fresh acidity

In some years, we retain a small amount of residual sugar. This is not intended to make an overtly sweet wine. It is a deliberate tool for balancing acidity and phenolic structure and for maintaining continuity of style across different growing seasons.

Residual sugar is sometimes treated as evidence of an unfinished fermentation or a lesser wine. That view misses the point. When it is used deliberately and precisely, a small amount can soften the perception of acidity, extend fruit and create harmony without making the wine taste obviously sweet.

The goal is not to copy Alsace in Victoria. It is to acknowledge what the region has demonstrated so convincingly: Pinot Gris can carry texture, ripeness and a gentle sense of sweetness while remaining fresh and composed.

Beechworth Pinot Gris: made more like Chardonnay

Our Beechworth Pinot Gris is a markedly different wine.

This is the style I often recommend to someone who enjoys Chardonnay, Viognier, Marsanne or Roussanne but wants to explore something less familiar.

The wine is barrel fermented and handled more like a serious Chardonnay than a conventional Pinot Grigio. Depending on the vintage and the balance of the individual parcels, it may also undergo partial malolactic fermentation.

Barrel fermentation contributes more than oak flavour. It can provide:

greater integration between fruit, lees and vessel
controlled oxygen exposure
additional mid-palate depth
savoury complexity
subtle nutty and fermentation-derived characters
a more composed relationship between acidity and texture

Partial malolactic fermentation converts some of the sharper malic acid into softer lactic acid, adding roundness without necessarily removing freshness.

The intention is not to make Pinot Gris imitate Chardonnay. It is to apply techniques commonly associated with Chardonnay in order to reveal the weight, structure and complexity Pinot Gris is capable of carrying in its own right.

The result may show pear, quince, white peach, preserved citrus, spice and subtle savoury or flinty characters. It has enough shape and depth to sit comfortably at the table and enough individuality to offer a genuine alternative to more familiar full-bodied white varieties.

Is Pinot Gris more aromatic than Chardonnay?

Pinot Gris generally shows more immediately recognisable pear, spice and floral fruit than Chardonnay, although the result depends heavily on ripeness and winemaking.

Chardonnay can initially appear more restrained, with much of its complexity shaped by site, fermentation, lees contact, malolactic fermentation and oak. Pinot Gris often announces itself more readily through orchard fruit and spice, but it can still develop significant savoury and textural complexity.

It is less overtly aromatic than varieties such as Gewürztraminer or Viognier, yet it usually has a clearer varietal identity than genuinely neutral white grapes.

The challenge is to preserve that identity while building texture without losing freshness.