Considerably cooler than the surrounding plains, the hills are washed in rain during winter months, and the peaks wrapped in fog. It is considered a high rainfall region compared to other Australian regions, but outside of winter the climate is warm and dry. Night time temperatures are the feature - notably cooler than the day when the sun sets. Worth noting is how the average rainfall increases the higher you go, with Mount Lofty picking up 1400mm on the old splash-o-meter compared to 850mm just 10K down the road in Charleston. This range of moisture and altitudes results in a variety of soils, but in general are sand and clay loam over clay subsoils. A bit of shale and ironstone can be found, and the soil is acidic on average and rarely acidic.

The combination of climate and soil lends to superb cool-weather whites like Riesling (if you watch for mould), Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and crisp Chardonnays. Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon can also be found, with the grapes maturing

Pinot Gris is a white wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir grape, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name ("gris" meaning "grey" in French) but the grape can have a brownish pink to black and even white appearance. The word "Pinot", which means "pinecone" in French, could have been given to it because the grapes grow in small pinecone-shaped clusters.

The wines produced from this grape also vary in colour from a deep golden yellow to copper and even a light shade of pink, and it is one of the more popular grapes for orange wine.

The clone of Pinot Gris grown in Italy is known as Pinot Grigio.

In Australia

Pinot Gris was first introduced into Australia in 1832 in the collection of grapes brought by James Busby. In Victoria, wines from the grape are labeled both Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio, depending on the sweetness of wine with the drier wines being labeled Pinot Grigio.