White Grape · Friuli Venezia Giulia

Pinot Grigio

Pinot Grigio is a grey-skinned mutation of Pinot Noir living a double life: pale, neutral and industrial by the tanker from the Venetian plain, yet mineral, textured and serious in the hills of Alto Adige and Friuli, and coppery as skin-contact ramato.

Pinot grigio [pee-no-gree-jo] is a white grape varietal from Northern Italy. This grape makes a wine with bright acidity and light body, a refreshing combination. Many around the world adore Pinot Grigio - let’s discover what makes this wine so delicious.

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Denominations

Setting it straight

More than meets the eye

vs
The reality

Hillside and ramato Pinot Grigio

  • Alpine tension in Alto AdigeGrown up towards 800 metres on limestone, it gains cut, pear-and-almond depth and a lime-edged acidity closer to a mountain white than a supermarket splash.
  • Friulian weight from the PoncaOn Collio's marl-and-sandstone soil, lees ageing brings salinity, a golden colour and real texture, as in Marco Felluga's Mongris.
  • Ramato, the coppery originalLeft on its grey skins for weeks, Pinot Grigio turns copper-pink with grip and peachy pulp, the historic northeastern style now revived by makers like Lunaria.
The myth

The neutral house pour

  • Bred for volume on the plainThe vast Delle Venezie IGT is engineered for high yields and low prices, which is why so much Pinot Grigio tastes of little beyond a lemony whisper.
  • Picked early, stripped paleEarly harvest and cold, reductive steel keep it fresh but erase the grape's texture, leaving the near-colourless style most drinkers picture.

The anchor fact: Not really: the ocean of pale, neutral Pinot Grigio comes from high-yield vines on the flat Venetian plain, while the very same grape turns mineral and textured in the hills of Alto Adige and Friuli, and coppery when left on its grey skins as ramato.

Taste · Where it sits

What it’s actually like in the glass

Forget scores out of five. Here’s Pinot Grigio described against grapes you already know.

BodyLight
LightFull

Light and quick on its feet in the everyday style, though thirty days on the skins for ramato, or six months on the lees in Collio, push it towards genuine mid-weight.

TanninBarely there
NoneFirm

A white, so effectively tannin-free when pressed off its skins fast; leave the grey skins in for ramato, though, and you get a real phenolic tug no pale Venezie bottle has.

AcidityHigh
SoftRacy

High, clean and the whole point: it is the acid spine that keeps even the lightest version lively, and it puts Pinot Grigio in the zippy northern camp with Garganega, not the soft south.

Fruit & sweetnessBone dry
Bone drySweet

Made bone dry, with subdued orchard fruit (pear, apple, a touch of white peach) standing in for any sweetness. Subtle by design, which is why cheap examples can taste of almost nothing.

Key flavours

Lemon
A quiet lemon-pith freshness rather than a citrus blast, the acid lift behind the aperitivo style.
Lime
Greener lime zest turns up in high-altitude Alto Adige fruit grown towards 800 metres, adding real cut.
Apple
Tart green apple in the lean Venezie style, softening to riper baked-apple flesh in warmer Friulian and ramato bottles.
Pear
The signature note: cool, watery Nashi pear is what most people actually taste when they say 'Pinot Grigio'.
White peach
As it ripens on the hills the fruit turns to soft white peach; skin-contact ramato pushes it into pulpy, almost apricot flesh.
Jasmine
A faint white-flower lift (jasmine, acacia blossom) in the aromatic hillside style, the perfumed side the neutral plains versions lose.
Racy · Crisp Round · Soft Light-bodied Bold · Full Glera Chardonnay Vermentino Garganega Cortese Carricante
Pinot Grigio

The map

Pinot Grigio is light to medium, crisp, fresh acidity, mapped against other white grapes you can buy. The closer a grape sits, the more its weight and freshness resemble Pinot Grigio.

Pinot Grigiolight to medium, crisp, fresh acidity
Gleraa close match
Chardonnayfuller, rounder
Vermentinoa close match
Garganegaa close match
Cortesea close match
Carricantefuller

Is this for you?

An honest gut-check

Reach for it when…

A bold red that just works

  • You want a clean, low-fuss Italian white for an aperitivo or a plate of fritto misto, and you will pay a few pounds more for a hillside bottle over the cheapest plonk.
  • You are pairing delicate lagoon seafood, alpine dumplings or mild aromatic Asian dishes, and you need freshness from a wine that does not shout over the food.
  • You are curious about skin-contact wine and want an easy way in: a coppery ramato has colour and grip without the full funk of a heavy orange wine.

Maybe skip it if…

You’re after something else tonight

  • You expect flavour fireworks: even good Pinot Grigio trades in subtlety, and the industrial version can taste of almost nothing.
  • You want oak, texture or a wine to cellar: drink it young and fresh, as most bottles are built for the next year or two, not the rack.
  • You are after a rich, powerful white with weight and grip: reach instead for a lees-aged Friulano, a barrel Chardonnay or a structured Vermentino.

Serving guide

Pour it at its best

Serve at

8-10°C

Serve it properly cold, 8 to 10 C, so the acidity reads as freshness; too warm and the neutral styles fall flat.

Decant

No

No decanting: there is nothing to unwind, and air only blows off the delicate aromatics.

Glass

Standard White Wine Glass

A standard white glass is plenty; the aromas are subtle, so a huge bowl just scatters them.

Drink within

5-7 days

Drink it young: within a year or two of the vintage the fruit is brightest, and it only fades from there.

Cellar

1-2 years

Not built to age. Buy the latest vintage; only the top Collio and ramato bottlings reward a year or two in the rack.

On the table

What to eat with Pinot Grigio

Start with the home-table matches that made the grape, then browse the full cuisine library.

Polenta e schie

The lagoon's own white

Polenta e schie

Soft white polenta and tiny grey schie shrimp are delicate, sweet and faintly briny; the pale Delle Venezie style's lemon-and-pear freshness lifts the dish without ever burying the shrimp. A pairing born within sight of the vineyards.
Cjarson

Sweet-savoury Carnian ravioli

Cjarson

These Carnian ravioli fold raisin, cinnamon and smoked ricotta into one sweet-savoury bite; a textured Friulian Pinot Grigio from the same hills has the salinity to meet the smoke and enough orchard fruit to echo the sweetness.
Spatzle or Tyrolean dumplings

Alpine comfort from South Tyrol

Spatzle or Tyrolean dumplings

Buttery spatzle and speck-and-cheese dumplings are rich alpine food; a high-altitude Alto Adige Pinot Grigio grown on the slopes above answers them with lime-edged acidity that keeps every forkful fresh.
Radicchio risotto

Bitter Treviso radicchio

Radicchio risotto

Treviso radicchio brings a pleasant bitterness that flatters Pinot Grigio's own faintly almond-skin finish; a coppery ramato with a little phenolic grip stands up to the leaf far better than a wispy plain version.

Browse every pairing

Indian Indian
Vegetarian 5 Curries 1 Dals & Pulses 1 Tandoori & Kebabs 1
Italian Italian
Risotto 4 Pasta 2 Fish and seafood 1
Korean Korean
Noodles 3 Banchan & Fermented Dishes 2 Rice & Bibimbap 2

Buy it · three to start with

Not sure which bottle? Start here

A curated trio across the price range, then every Pinot Grigio on sale in the UK right now.

Entry · everyday

Sartori Pinot Grigio Venezie Vigna Mescita

Sartori Pinot Grigio Venezie Vigna Mescita

Delle Venezie

2 retailers

£8.46

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Why this one: The archetype of the everyday face: a Delle Venezie IGT Pinot Grigio built for volume and value. Pale, lemony and undemanding, it is exactly what the world drinks by the million bottles, and why the grape earned its plain reputation.

The sweet spot

Cantina Orsogna Lunaria Ramoro Pinot Grigio Rose

Cantina Orsogna Lunaria Ramoro Pinot Grigio Rose

Terre di Chieti

1 retailer

£14.06

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Why this one: A step sideways into the coppery ramato tradition: this organic Abruzzese bottling sits on its grey skins for around thirty days, turning copper-pink with peachy, pulpy texture and a gentle grip. The clearest, most affordable taste of what skin contact does to the grape.

Special occasion

Marco Felluga Collio Pinot Grigio Mongris

Marco Felluga Collio Pinot Grigio Mongris

Collio Goriziano/Collio

2 retailers

£19.43

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Why this one: The serious northeastern face. Marco Felluga's Mongris comes off the marl-and-sandstone Ponca soils of Collio in Friuli, rested six months on its lees into a saline, mineral, faintly coppery white with real length. Proof that Pinot Grigio can be a benchmark, not a bystander.

12 of 44 bottles

View All Pinot Grigio Wines

Denominations

Where it earns a name on the label

The appellations where Pinot Grigio plays a starring role.

Alto Adige/SüdtirolDOC ProseccoDOC

Where it grows

The places it calls home

Friuli Venezia Giulia

Italy's white-wine heartland, where Friulano, Ribolla Gialla and skin-contact orange wines meet alpine air, Adriatic light and the cooking of San Daniele and Read more

64 wines · 18 denominations

Lombardy

From Franciacorta classic-method bubbles to Valtellina mountain Nebbiolo and Lugana lake-cool whites, Lombardy spans 5 DOCGs across roughly 25,000 hectares of Read more

148 wines · 42 denominations

Veneto

Italy's largest wine region by volume, where Prosecco hills, Valpolicella ridges, and Soave's volcanic plain shape three different Italian classics. Read more

548 wines · 42 denominations

Trentino-South Tyrol

Italy's alpine wine country: Teroldego from the Piana Rotaliana, Trento DOC sparklers raised on dolomitic limestone, and Alto Adige whites perfumed by glacial Read more

59 wines · 12 denominations

Aosta Valley

Italy's smallest wine region clings to terraces between 500 and 1,200 metres, where Prie Blanc, Petit Rouge and Picotener (Nebbiolo) catch the alpine sun. Read more

1 denominations

The terroir

Pinot Grigio's split personality is really a map. On the flat, fertile plains it makes oceans of neutral wine; climb into the northeastern hills and the same grape finds tension, minerals and texture. Altitude, poor soils and cool alpine nights are what separate the serious bottles from the anonymous ones.

Alto Adige

The steep, high valleys of the South Tyrol, with vines climbing towards 800 metres on limestone and porphyry.

The mountain benchmark: cool nights and altitude give a taut, pear-and-almond Pinot Grigio with lime-edged acidity and real finesse, a world away from the plains.

Collio and Friuli

The border hills of Collio and the Colli Orientali in Italy's far northeast, on the marl-and-sandstone soil locals call Ponca.

Texture and salinity: low yields and lees ageing make weighty, mineral, golden wines, and this is the heartland of the coppery ramato style.

Veneto and the Venetian plain

The flat, fertile Po and Adige plains behind Venice, engine room of the vast Delle Venezie zone.

The industrial workhorse: high yields and early picking make the pale, light, inexpensive Pinot Grigio that fills supermarket shelves worldwide.

Editorial

About Pinot Grigio

Most Pinot Grigio grapes are used to make the classic white Pinot Grigio wine. This wine is produced in four main regions: Fruili-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Lombardy.

Pinot Grigio is genetically Pinot Noir: a single mutation turned the black grape's skins a dusky grey-pink, and the identical French grape is simply called Pinot Gris. One vine, two colours, and depending on the border, two names.

Grape genetics per Robinson, Harding and Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes

Pinot Grigio’s history stretches far back; it has been planted since the Middle Ages. Pinot Grigio is historically a French grape, originating in the Burgundy region from a mutation of the Pinot Noir grape. Its skins are not like other white grape skins; they have an alluring blue-gray tinge. This led to its name Pinot Gris in French, meaning ‘grey pinot.’ In Italian, grigio means grey! Centuries ago, the grape quickly traveled to Switzerland and did not take long for them to reach the regions of Northern Italy. Yet, it was not until the 1990s that Pinot Grigio’s popularity grew outside the Italian market. Now, it is one of the top 5 most popular Italian grape varieties. Today, Pinot Grigio is produced all over North-Eastern Italy. It thrives in locations with high altitude and sun exposure. Its most prestigious production areas create some exciting and acidity driven wines. Friuli-Venezia Giulia is a prime example, with its impressive hillside vineyards.

The simplicity of Pinot Grigio makes for some easy-drinking wine.

Good to know

Frequently asked

Pinot Grigio is dry and still white wine. It is light-bodied with bright acidity. It also has a delicate pale color.

Pinot Grigio is refreshing with lively acidity. It is light on the palate, with citrus and orchard fruit flavors. Pinot Grigio can also express notes of white peach and white flowers.

Pinot Grigio is typically a dry wine

Pinot Grigio is produced mainly in Italy, in four specific regions: Fruili-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, and Lombardy. Pinot Grigio is also grown in other parts of the world such as many parts of France, where it is known as Pinot Gris.

Pinot Grigio pairs with mostly mild foods such as fresh cheeses, like mozzarella and goat cheese. Pinot Grigio also shines with acidic foods. Seafood with fresh lemon or lime is a great pairing. If you do not love seafood, Pinot Grigio pairs brilliantly with chicken.

Explore by style

Wine styles made from Pinot Grigio

Jump to the editorial guide for each style this grape turns up in.

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