The wine industry often likes to categorize products into neat little boxes. Store shelves and restaurant lists get automatically separated into red, white, and rosé. Even the radical natural wine movement that broke drinkers’ preconceived notions of what wine can be depends on categorization to some degree — where would it be without “orange wines” and “chillable reds”? But “Gris” grapes like Pinot Gris, Trousseau Gris, and Grenache Gris defy this convention, producing wines in a spectrum of colors from white to soft pink to copper.
Pinot Gris, which is by far the most popular of the “Gris” grapes, typically falls under the “white wine” category. Some of the most well-known examples are a light straw color, and commonly labeled Pinot Grigio, but there are an increasing number of bottles touting the same name that would be more accurately described as orange wines, skin-contact wines, or even rosés.
So how can one grape create such a range of styles?
This quirky trait can be traced back to its physical structure. It’s believed that Pinot Gris originated in Burgundy as a pink-skinned mutation of Pinot Noir. While the majority of grapes that produce white wines have a greenish, translucent skin, Pinot Gris displays more of a light purple color — to the degree that if one were wandering through a vineyard planted with the variety, they might suspect that it was a red grape. When most white grapes (like Sauvignon Blanc or Chardonnay) are made with skin maceration, the result is
