FEATURE: Viticulture

Gris Power

WHILE Pinot Gris is a relatively versatile grape, the cooler climates of Central Otago offer it a natural home. 

Grown in the shadow of its darkly sophisticated counterpart Pinot Noir for decades, it has become the second most planted varietal in the region. 

New Zealand wide it’s the fourth most planted, and last year it eclipsed Pinot Noir in wine exports for the first time. 

Winemakers Matt Dicey and Paul Pujol both have lengthy histories of making Pinot Gris, in Central Otago and beyond. 

They both say that while it is capable of producing uninteresting wine, if treated with care Pinot Gris can be spectacular. 

Where it was previously maligned, in recent years its popularity has grown as it has come to be viewed more seriously. 

“There’s been a bit of a sea change in attitude towards Pinot Gris,” Dicey says. “It can have a lot to offer; it can be intensely aromatic, and have lovely texture, lovely poise.” 

With brother James at Dicey in Bannockburn he’s pursuing an expression of the wine that ticks those boxes. 

Over the 25 years he’s been making wine in central Otago, Dicey has produced three or four different styles of Pinot Gris. Now he’s settled on a bone dry version that hits the aromatic high notes, while achieving a silken texture. 

“It’s a naturally low acid variety, which being a very cool climate winery works really nicely for us,” Dicey says. “It’s a variety that likes a little bit of hangtime, so if you hang it out there you can really get into an aromatic profile.” 

Pujol, the head winemaker at Prophet’s Rock in Bendigo, also notes the benefits that Central Otago’s cooler climate provides by allowing the grapes to ripen for longer.

The length of the growing season, the warm days and cool nights, and lack of exposure to seabreezes, all contribute to a wine that’s ripe and aromatic, but bold and fresh. 

“It’s this really interesting grape that can make these totally different wines depending on climate,” he says. “In Central Otago we’re lucky in that we’ve got the length of growing season in that cool climate where we can ripen it into an aromatic spectrum of flavours on the vine.” 

Pujol has a special affinity for Pinot Gris. Having worked at Seresin Estate in Marlborough he left for France in 2000, where he became the winemaker at Kuentz-Bas in Alsace, an area renowned for its Pinot Gris. 

The varietal had been grown there for centuries, and he became acutely aware of his place in the chain. 

“It was just a tremendous privilege and experience,” Pujol says. “To see that history, and how they approach the winemaking, the diversity of sites, and how they farm and look after them is quite remarkable.” 

One of the main takeaways from that experience was how the wine can truly showcase the small slice of the world from which they emerge. 

It’s an approach that is equally relevant at Prophet’s Rock, which was launched in 1999. Their first Pinot Gris was produced in 2007, and Pujol says that and subsequent vintages still hold up. 

“As a small producer, what’s your only unique asset?” he asks. “It’s your land. If you successfully make a wine that tastes of your unique piece of the world, then you’ve globally differentiated the wine. It won’t taste like anyone’s wine anywhere in the world.” 

But despite Central Otago being ideal for growing Pinot Gris, its success in the region is because of a “funny quirk of timing” Pujol explains. 

The vast majority of vineyards were planted between 1995 and 2005, after the wine industry was pioneered in the area during the 1980s and 1990s. Planting then rapidly tapered off, with the Global Financial Crisis largely being responsible. 

During that golden decade, planting was dictated by the wine trends of the time. 

“It was dead smack in the middle of the ABCs… ‘anything by Chardonnay’,” Pujol says. “That style just went out of favour. The hot new white variety on the block at the time was Pinot Gris, so that’s why it became Central Otago’s biggest planted white variety.” 

Ironically, although Pinot Gris now accounts for about nine percent of Central Otago wine, Chardonnay is having something of a global renaissance. In recent years plantings of that varietal have doubled in the region. 

Regardless, Pinot Gris has carved out its own unique place as Central Otago’s white grape of choice. 

“Its popularity has been on the up for a long time,” Dicey reflects. “It’s certainly got its own hardcore group of enthusiasts.” 

• International Pinot Gris Day is on May 17.