Central Otago makes famously dry, concentrated styles of Pinot Gris and Te Kano Life Pinot Gris is an excellent example. Flavours of peach and pear flesh out the body with ginger and spicy aromas adding depth. 

The grapes were hand harvested from the Jerome vineyard which has naturally low vigour and sandy soils, which produce smaller than usual grapes with intense flavours, which produce this structured and complex Gris. 

Amisfield Winery is based in Pisa while its beautiful cellar door shop and restaurant overlook Lake Hayes, just outside of Queenstown.

This winery makes a more diverse range of whites than most in Central Otago and the Pinot Gris is a light bodied, refreshing expression of this white grape from a cool climate. Spice, fresh fruit and a long finish all make this an extremely good quality Pinot Gris.

Pinot Gris is the fourth most planted grape in New Zealand with a massive 2,488 hectares nationwide, inching slowly up to Chardonnay’s 3,167 hectares. It’s huge growth from just 157 hectares of Pinot Gris as recently as 2001, but numbers aside, it’s the taste that counts and Greywacke is next level in flavour. 

The grapes in this wine are from the Wrekin Terrace Vineyard in Brancott Valley where they grow on gravel over clay-loam soils, typical of the Southern Valleys in Marlborough. Three clones of Pinot Gris were all hand picked separately at high ripeness levels to provide rich fruity flavours in the finished wine, which was fermented in a combo of old French oak barriques and stainless steel tanks, all with wild yeasts to a finished 14.4% ABV with 10 grams per litre of residual sugar. 

Fresh, full bodied, off dry and intensely concentrated; one for the large glass on a decadent spring evening. 

A  very aromatic Pinot Gris with a nose exhibiting quince, dough, pear apple and cream. The palate is rich and intense with flavours of pork fat, apple and stone ruit - brought together in a bright acid frame.

Martinborough is home to many refreshingly dry Pinot Gris and this example from Margrain offers great drinking with a silky smooth mouthfeel and lingering finish. Very good Pinot Gris made in small volumes from one of Martinborough's oldest wineries and most experienced winemakers, Strat Canning.

Established in 1864 by Jean Désiré Féraud, Monte Christo is the birthplace of Central Otago wine. Our wines are made with 100% estate-grown fruit sourced from our vineyards across three distinct sub-regions, the Alexandra Basin, Bannockburn and Pisa. Utilising sustainable farming practices and minimal intervention methods in the winery, the outcome is elegant, refined, and impeccably balanced wines epitomising the terroir of Central Otago.

Tasting note Dry, medium-bodied and luscious, with pronounced notes of fresh yellow apple and pear, white peach, melon and honeysuckle.

VINEYARDS

Vineyard: Davishon (69%)

Subregion: Alexandra Basin 

Elevation: 160m 

Clone(s): 6, Mystery clone 

Soil: Blackmans alluvial sand, silt and gravels derived from schist and sandstone 

WINEMAKING

Brix: 22.3

Fermentation: 80% stainless steel and 20% neutral French oak

Aging: Four months in stainless steel Cases

The Charles Wiffen Pinot Gris, is grown in the “Home” Block, which surrounds the Homestead on the farm, which was built in 1882. The block is spur pruned, with a targeted yield of 9 tonnes to the hectare. The grapes are machine harvested in the cool of the morning, transported to the winery, where it is gently destemmed, pressed and clarified. The juice is then fermented with selected yeasts, with the fermentation stopped at the desired residual sugar content.

This estate grown Pinot Gris exhibits aromas of beurre bose pear, hazelnut and white lily with hints of meyer lemon and rosewater on the palate and is refreshingly textured.

RS 5.5 g/L

A field blend of Pinot Blanc from the Bentwood Vineyard and Pinot Gris from the neighbouring Cross Hares vineyard. Picked on the same day.

Whole bunch Pinot Gris placed gently in amphora with direct press Pinot Blanc pressed atop. Fermented on skins in amphora for 6 months. The wine was then settled and blended with a puncheon of pinot blanc.

Apricot yoghurt, soft chalky tannin, crystallized ginger, peach ice tea salivating acidity.

This is a light, dry and fresh Pinot Gris with flavours of white fruit and a lingering finish. Good value. 

White haven Pinot Gris is a versatile dry style with flavours of fresh nashi pears and crisp red apples, a medium body and textural finish. It's a great wine for everyday drinking with or without food, a lovely aperitif style to enjoy at lunch and early evening.

Whitehaven Wines began life in 1994 as a romantic business for a couple of corporate escapees, Sue and Greg White, who had given up life in the rat race of Auckland for another kind of life aboard their yacht. When sailing around the country, they took shelter in the Marlborough Sounds from Pacific storms and fell in love with the region. An easy thing to do when harbouring in the spectacularly pristine waters of the Sounds. They decided to settle there on terra firma once more and try their hands at wine production, hiring a winemaker and beginning a business which has now been around for 26 years. Greg has sadly passed away now, leaving a legacy as well as his wife and daughter, Sam, to run the winery.

Their winemaker is Peter Jackson.

This West Auckland Pinot Gris is made in a dry style with grapes from Kumeu, fermented with indigenous yeasts and given extended maturation on lees following fermentation. This adds richness and complexity to this youthful white. It drinks well now and can hold for a couple of years as a good quality dry white. 

Kumeu River Wines began life as San Marino Wines in 1944 when Croatian immigrant couple, Mick and Katé Brajkovich, bought a small property with a vineyard on it. Their descendents now own and run Kumeu River Wines, which produces 250,000 bottles of wine annually from its owns 30 hectares of vineyards in Kumeu and from another 10 hectares, owned by local grape growers. 

Pear, lime zest, almond and cream soda on the nose accentuated in a weighty, textural, aromatic Pinot Gris with fantastic cool climate freshness from a notably cool growing season.

This flavoursome white puts Pinot Gris' best foot forward and shows the high quality wine region of the Waitaki Valley in North Otago at its best.

Ripe pear, poached quince and rose petal florals are abundant in our Pinot Gris. The palate is full flavoured & textural which can be attributed to the beautifully balanced fruit at harvest combined with our unique winemaking technique. - Maude.