Who is it? The Pinot Gris is a mutation of Pinot Noir, originally from Burgundy. The grapes wears variable shades, from pink to blue through brick and brown, but always with grayish reflections, hence its name. Besides, the Burgundians nickname him Pinot Beurot, in reference to the color of the monks of the region.
What wines does it produce? Ouch, this is already complicated. We know him mainly in Alsace, through too confidential dry whites and great sweet whites (late “late harvests”). True to its Burgundian origins, Pinot Gris delivers a beautiful aromatic complexity, with more elegant than intense perfumes. But, due to the color of his skin, he can also produce rosés, in the Loire center, for example. Particularly pale in the glass, they can be described as gray wines. On the other hand, in the Val-de-Loire, in Coteaux-d’Ancenis, as well as in Valais in Switzerland, the Pinot Gris is very white but is rather called Malvoisie.
What does the Tokay? Ouille, the headache is accentuated. In Alsace, it has long been called. Then “Tokay Pinot Gris”, before definitively dropping the term “Tokay” in 2007, faced with the dissatisfaction of the Hungarian producers of Tokaj. It is that, since the 16th in the century, the Alsatians were convinced to grow vine from Hungary, brought back by Diplomat Lazare de Schwendi. He visibly smoked them, but the Alsatians that are too stubborn and, above all, too delighted to practice, as in central Europe, noble rot and late harvesting specific to these great sweets, had trouble departing from the name. The Italians are less complicated by life, they call it Pinot Grigio and they love it in dry and fruity wine. In the north of the country in particular, Frioul in the lead but also veneted and Lombardy.
How to recognize it? To his smoked, grilled, roasted notes, not very common in white wines. If its aromas are not particularly expressive, and sometimes even timid, the palette is very wide, from honey apricot, praline fruit, toast spices. It is more expansive in the mouth, with a lot of magnitude and roundness, of the structure. This is still accentuated with the sweets: it then becomes remarkably powerful and with the excessive length.
What to drink it with? If it is systematically recommended for foie gras and smoked salmon (for the famous smoked notes), it can play on many more paintings. And, above all, invest the field of red wines. He thus holds a good company with veal coasts, blanquette, roast pork, kidneys. But also with a tagine, a curry chicken, an orange duck and, of course, fish in sauce.
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