According to scientists, Pinot Grigio (in Italian) or Pinot Noir (in French) is believed to be a mutation of the Pinot Noir grape. While it makes white wines, the skins of the Pinot Grigio grape have a gray-blue, which is how it gets its name.

Pinot Grigio's flavors are largely dependent on the area where the grape is cultivated, and this is something that might cause some confusion when it comes to classifying Pinot Grigio as dry or sweet.

In this article we'll break things down and answer all of your questions about actually how sweet is Pinot Grigio, so make sure to stay with us until the end of the article to learn where Pinot Grigio wines land on the sweetness scale.

Is Pinot Grigio dry or sweet?

The short answer to this question is that Pinot Grigio is, typically, medium dry. However, there are many factors that can contribute to changing this wine’s levels of sweetness.

If you’re looking for sweet Pinot Grigio wines try those labeled as “late harvest”. Late harvest wines are produced from grapes that are picked after they have reached their maximum ripeness. These grapes are left on the vine for an extended period of time and this causes the grapes to dehydrate and the sugar content in them to become more concentrated.

The soil and the climate in each region also greatly affect the way wines taste. Wines from warmer climates typically have riper, more fruit-forward flavors, while those from cooler ones tend to be more brisk and occasionally savory. The levels of sugars found in the whine might not actually change, but wines with more fruit forward notes are perceived as sweeter.

Let’s take a look at some of the most famous regions where Pinot Grigio wines are produced and how they vary.

Italy

Italian Pinot Grigios are dry and light-bodied with citrus, pear, and stone fruit scents like peach and apricot. Additionally, you might detect the aromas of almond, baking spices, or honeysuckle. Melon to green apple are just a few examples of flavors. Some even have a mild tropical or citrus fruit flavor.

France

French Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Gris, wines are bolder with more earthy notes and slight honey aromas. However, the region of Alsace produces very sweet Pinot Grigio wines.These wines must include only Pinot Gris grapes, and they have a particularly complex flavor. With a prolonged tingling aftertaste, you'll detect cinnamon, honey, clove, meyer lemon, and ginger spice notes.

Australia

From the coldest places to the warmest areas, Pinot Grigio grows in many of the prized wine regions all around Australia. It comes in a delectably wide range of flavors that range from elegant, crisp, and zesty to more textured, velvety, and complex.

USA

Pinot Grigio wines from the USA are frequently less acidic and with more pronounced fruit flavors than the European versions of the wine. 

Pinot Grigio styles from sweet to dry

As of now, we’re guessing that it has become clear that Pinot Grigio is a very versatile wine. If we were to simplify things, we could say that there are actually three basic categories, and they differ from one another in several significant ways. These categories could be labeled as:

• Fruity and sweet

• Mineral and dry

• Fruity and dry

Let’s take a dive into each of them

Is Pinot Grigio sweet?

Like we mentioned earlier in the article, Pinot Grigio is usually medium-dry when it comes to the levels of sugars that the grapes contain, but the first of the three categories listed above contains the sweeter versions of Pinot Grigio.

Fruity and sweet

Sweet Pinot Grigios like the Alsace made ones belong in this category. Winemakers from Alsace use extremely sophisticated winemaking processes to boost the mouthfeel texture and use late harvest and noble rot grapes to maximize the taste potential of this wine, which has flavors of sweet lemon candy, honeycomb, and honey crisp apples.

Traditional Alsatian dishes like chestnuts, aged cheeses, foie gras, and terrine are perfect food pairings. These wines can also match the spice of Asian and Indian food thanks to their medium to full body and slight sweetness. Generally Pinot Grigio wines are best consumed young, within six months to a year after bottling, but wines of this style have great aging potential. So don’t miss out on adding a couple of these fruity and sweet wines to your cellar.

Some of the best fruity and sweet Pinot Grigios you must try include the:

• 2019 Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Turckheim

• 2015 Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris Les Princes Abbes

• 2018 Joseph Cattin Pinot Gris Hatschbourg

Is Pinot Grigio dry?

The short answer is that generally Pinot Grigio is dry. The long answer is that Pinot Grigio can be dry but in two different ways, either mineral and dry or fruity and dry. Let’s have a look at each of these categories.

Mineral and dry

This version of the wine is produced in cool climate regions like the Italian regions of Trentino, Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in Germany and also in Canada. These wines have higher levels of acidity. prominent citrus characteristics and a somewhat salty quality to them.

This type of Pinot Grigio is a perfect aperitif that you can enjoy by itself during a hot day, or you can pair it with oysters, mussels and other shellfish, salty snacks like pretzels or fries and even salty and full fat cheeses like feta.

Some of our recommendations so that you can fully experience this type of wine include:

• 2018 Cantina Tramin Kellerei Pinot Grigio Alto Adige

• 2020 Purcari 'Chateau Purcari' Pinot Grigio

• 2020 Terlato Family Vineyards Pinot Grigio Colli Orientali del Friuli

• 2021 Franz Haas Pinot Grigio Alto Adige

Fruity and dry

This is the most popular version of this wine, not only because it is widely available in the market, but also because it is what most winemakers and wine lovers refer to when discussing Pinot Grigio. This is a fruitier version of the wine, with flavors of white peach, yellow apple, and lemon, as well as a slight acidity and a significantly richer, more oily mouthfeel.

The balanced acidity and the  "oily" are the result of a secondary fermentation process, called malolactic fermentation. This process reduces the texture of a wine and makes it more approachable by converting the wine's harsher malic acid into softer lactic acid (thus the name malolactic).

These wines are produced in regions with warmer temperatures, like California, Oregon, and Washington in the United States. The Pinot Gris from New Zealand is crisp and full-flavored, with notes of apple, pear, honeysuckle, spice, and bread. It has a more Alsatian style than the drier version of Pinot Grigio. Last, but definitely not least, one other region of the New World that makes excellent wines of this style is the Western Cape in South Africa.

This type of Pinot Grigio goes perfectly with dishes that have earthy notes to them such as salads, pasta with pesto sauce and grilled chicken with vegetables.

We can’t recommend enough these wines to those who want to explore the fruity and dry version of Pinot Grigio:

• 2021 J Vineyards & Winery Pinot Gris

• 2022 Brancott Estate Pinot Gris

• 2022 Bodega Piedra Negra Alta Coleccion Pinot Gris

Conclusion

Now that we’ve reached the end of the article, we hope that we have answered all your questions about how sweet is Pinot Grigio. This variety can offer a pleasant drinking experience to wine lovers of all palates. Whether you prefer dry or sweet, mineral or fruity wines, there’s definitely a version of Pinot Grigio that you’re guaranteed to love.

We definitely recommend exploring different styles and different wine regions to discover the full potential of the grape and see for yourself how the climate can affect the tastes of the wine. Don’t forget that sweet Pinot Grigio wines have great aging potential and you won’t miss out by saving a spot or two for them in your cellar.

So get a couple of different bottles of Pinot Grigio, your favorite snacks and your loved ones (who can also bring their own bottles) and have yourself a mouth watering Pinot Grigio tasting night.

Cheers!

Photo credit Brett Jordan.