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.
