Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio can sometimes get a bad rap, too often dismissed as simple, uninteresting plonk but in the right hands, these wines can be absolutely brilliant. This pack brings together some of the best examples we could find from Australia alongside benchmark bottles from Italy, France, New Zealand and the USA, showcasing just how versatile, characterful, and downright delicious this often-maligned grape can be.

What makes Pinot Gris/Grigio so compelling is its ability to reflect both place and winemaker so clearly. From the bright, finely tuned freshness of the Bloody Hill Village Pinot Gris and the textural, energetic expression from Elk Cove Vineyards that shows just how much fun the variety can be and just how serious some take this grape.From the alpine precision of Köfererhof and the rich, powerful Alsatian style of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, every wine here tells a different story. There’s even a more skinsy, pink-hued and gently grippy version from Owen Latta that we think you are going to love!

Rounded out by the ever-reliable brilliance of Neudorf Vineyards, this is a pack full of personality and all-around killer drinking for the cooler months. Rich fruit, slippery textures, bright freshness, and enormous drinkability- these are wines built to win you over.

Whether you’re rediscovering pinot gris or falling for it properly for the first time, we think this lineup might just change a few minds.

SPECIAL VALUE - Fermented and matured in neutral oak. A very bright green gold. Immediately engaging with its aromas of ripe pear, a little green apple and spice. Brightly fruited with crisp acidity, finishing chalky and long. Excellent as always. Drink now and over the next two to three years. (95) PHILIP RICH, Halliday Wine Companion

Youthful exuberance. Like the Mayer duo. From the neighbour’s property. Rests in second year used oak.

Spicy, rich enough, bright mineral charm, pears, sweet citrus, a touch of herbal nuance. It has the tricks. It’s a refreshing white wine and yet delivers all the right stuff for the variety. An easy one to identify and drink. Classy, energetic. MIKE BENNIE, The Wine Front

The new project from the Mayer family, Bloody Hill captures a more youthful, approachable side of the Yarra Valley while retaining the same thoughtful vineyard focus that has made their wines so respected. Built around estate and grower fruit, the wines are vibrant, energetic and hugely drinkable, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay leading the charge. There’s a looseness and charm to the range, but also plenty of detail beneath the surface. We really like what we have seen so far and looking forward to more.

SPECIAL VALUE - It’s the colour of a pale bronze-cherry rosé. Half the fruit is destemmed and on skins between three to 10 days, hence the hue, and the other half whole-bunch pressed, adding texture. All up, such a delicious drink. Rose petals and spice, watermelon and nashi pear, pickled ginger and a lemon/ginger-infusion flavour. It has fine texture and creaminess, with savoury yet lovely light acidity keeping this moreish. (95) JANE FAULKNER, Halliday Wine Companion

This is a great release. It drinks like class rosé while also having the detail and tension of quality orange wines. That being said, it walks like a rosé and quacks like a rosé for the most part. Faint pear notes, crunchy red cherries steeped in cherry juice, light alpine herb and botanical floral notes, a crack of white pepper and dashes of watermelon rind and cranberry drink. It feels dry, shows off a suite of fine, lacy tannin, finishes with pucker and more botanical-laced freshness, almost as per a rosé vermouth. Straight up banger. (94) MIKE BENNIE, The Wine Front 

Led by the hugely talented Owen Latta, Latta has become one of the most exciting and creative wineries in Australia. Working across vineyards in western Victoria, Owen produces expressive, small-batch wines with a strong focus on texture, freshness and site expression. There’s an experimental edge to the range, but the wines are always grounded in balance and drinkability rather than novelty.

A gently savoury style with warm, earthy, saline aromas, subtle pear blossom and dried herbs. The palate is light and off-dry with softly chewy phenolics on the finish. The crunchy Nashi pear fruit is trimmed in very subtle smoky complexity and a hint of woody pear emerges at the end. A touch more grown-up than your typical crowd-pleaser without being too demanding. Well-judged, carefully made, and designed for immediate pleasure. STEPHEN WONG, The Real Review

White pear, star fruit and golden kiwi. Lemon tea and honeysuckle. There is an interplay of fruit sweetness and acidity that is just spot on, making for a wine that feels plump and yet very juicy. Its partial mlf makes for a creamy lemon butter finish. Juiced ginger, chamomile and nettle, too. A wine that would pair with roast chicken or even creamy pasta very well. Wonderful value and flavour delivery. SHANTEH WALE, Halliday Wine Companion 

One of New Zealand’s true benchmark estates, Neudorf has long been a reference point for elegant, finely detailed Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Nelson region. Family-owned and quietly influential, the winery helped establish the quality potential of the area through organic farming, sensitive winemaking and an unwavering focus on finesse. The wines combine purity, texture and understated complexity in a way that feels effortlessly classical.

Some of the most exciting white wines of Europe are found in a tiny valley in the very far north of Italy's Alto Adige region, almost into Austria. In the relatively unknown Eisacktaler (or Valle Isarco, in the 'secondary' Italian language) an exceptionally talented young winemaker has been making textured and icily-structured white wines (considered by many to be the best examples in Italy) since they moved from grower only to bottle their first estate-made wine in 1995.

Master of these wines is Günter Kerschbaumer, proprietor of this tiny estate, a patchwork of little vineyards at 700-800 metres at the foot of the Dolomites. Each of these plots is a unique terroir and have been planted specifically to suit each variety. 

Stylistically, these Eisacktaler whites - their DOCs are worded as either Alto Adige Valle Isarco or Sud Tirol Eisacktaler - are quite distinguishable from their highly-regarded and perhaps much better known cousins an hour back down the A 22 closer to Bolzano. To say these Eisacktalers are more Germanic is not unreasonable, but Alsatian is maybe more accurate. These are whites of even greater body and texture than the lower AA, with more subtle but more complex aromatics that are underpinned with a perception of minerality, some serious structure and a driving acid profile.

An intense and layered bouquet that is fruity and aromatic with tropical and orchard fruits These fruits are mirrored on the palate and there are also mineral notes reminiscent of the gravelly limestone the fruit is grown in. The wine has a rich palate and textural quality assisted by 8 months on lees with a portion of time in 30hl older oak. Less than 2gl residual sugar - spice and all things nice. 

The nose immediately reveals the classic smoky, toasty aromas often associated with this grape variety in Alsace. It will gain more expression with time and should eventually also show honey and bees wax highights. The palate displays a certain intensity of flavour and good presence with a great structure and a nice concentration. Really dry wine with no aggressivity and velvety finish. The saline acidity reenforces the noble bitterness. Like all Turckheim wines, the finish is elegant and so enjoyable today. OLIVIER HUMBRECHT MW

If you know Humbrecht, their quality bar sits high above many others. Andrew Jefford is evocative and on point, ‘They are arrestingly articulate – and gloriously variable too….A winemaker of his ability could have done almost anything, so skilled is his controlling hand. Yet he stood back. He unpicked the knots of modern oenology and let the threads lie as they would- in trusting absolutely the raw materials...' Jefford is referring to winemaker, Oliver Humbrecht. His sensibility when it comes to making wines in Alsace is illuminating. He's a deep thinker but also a do-er, and he was also Frances's first Master of Wine.

The Turckheim range is their gateway to the brilliance of what this estate achieves with aromatic varieties such as riesling and pinot gris.

Based around the village of Turckheim, which sits in a kind of sweet spot, it’s dry but not hot, sunny but not extreme, with varied soils and ideal slopes. That combination lets grapes ripen slowly and develop intense, nuanced flavors, which is why the wines from this small area are so consistently high quality.

Richly complex, this is not a simple sipping Pinot Gris. The aromatics are floral and fruit-centred,
with plenty of jasmine, ripe pear and toasted almond. The palate is surprisingly rich and complex, with lanolin, beeswax and sweet stone fruit flavours. Textured and rich with candied ginger, honeyed pear and apricot to finish. This is a lot of vinous complexity. CLIVE PURSHORSE, Decanter Magazine 

The 2022 Pinot Gris is scented of poached pears, almonds, meringue and bread dough. The palate is broad and creamy with generous, ripe, spicy fruit tempered by bright acidity and a long, flavorful finish. ERIN BROOKS, The Wine Advocate 

As pioneers of Willamette, Elk Cove’s gris has amassed fans worldwide. Like their reds, they ‘exude precision, freshness, intensity and for want of a better word, sheer drinkability,’ says Neal Martin. 

Pinot Gris is Oregon’s great white grape, a mutation of their beloved pinot noir. Within Oregon, Willamette Valley is the hotspot. Sandwiched between the Cascade Range to the east and Coastal Range to the west, altitude injects freshness while its kaleidoscopic array of soils inject tension. Pinot Gris has been grown here for over half a century.