This grape is known by many names, Rulander in

Germany, Pinot Gris in Alsace and New Zealand,

but perhaps most famously in Italy, where it is

called Pinot Grigio and is believed to have

mutated from the red Pinot Noir grape.

In Alsace it is best suited to the deep, clay rich soils found in the north where it produces richly honeyed, dry whites as well as superb sweet late harvest wines.

In Northern Italy Pinot Grigio produces many thin, undistinguished dry whites. However it comes into its own in Friuli-Venezia and the Alto Adige, where top producers produce marvelously rounded, elegant, and mineral led wines.