Pinot gris the `it' wine of the moment but why, exactly?

One of the most challenging wine varieties to review is pinot gris. This is a concern because it's such a trendy wine style and we often ask the question why?

In a facetious mood we may joke that it is "learner" chardonnay, an excuse for riesling or the gewurztraminer you have when you aren't really having a gewurztraminer.

Sauvignon blanc has been fashionable for years now, in fact it has gone beyond fashionable. Marlborough savvie is vibrant, zingy and bursting with crisp flavour, everything pinot gris is not.

Pinot gris often has a syrupy, undefined flavour that can tend towards cloying and one-dimensional if not saved by the phenolic skin bitterness that steps in back of palate to provide a foil for the sweetness.

When you buy a pinot gris you can never be sure of what you're going to get there's so much variation in the style that we can safely say there isn't any defined "regional" or "New Zealand" style.

So what has pinot gris got going for it? Well, it's very textural; it feels good right across the palate, often unctuous with the touch of liquid satin. It's easy to drink because it isn't huge on flavour and usually has a dollop of sweetness the old "talk dry, drink off-dry" preference shines through. Why there's a perception we should drink "dry" to appear wine savvy is one of life's mysteries.

Pinot gris is an enigmatic variety, but it's climbing in terms of producing vineyard area about 1331 hectares were planted by 2008. There's a big ongoing investment in the variety and wine drinkers are obviously lapping it up.

Maybe the taste for pinot gris has something to do with its easy drinking character; it's inoffensive and because it's more about feel that flavour, there isn't a great deal to dislike about it.

Tussock 08 Nelson Pinot Gris

Aroma: This pale gold wine has a light, perfumed aroma delivering hints of pear and white nectarine; it smells rich, syrupy and sweet.

Taste: A surprisingly taut wine delivering a lovely blend of spice and citrus flavour with some excellent acid spine.

The flavour of pears takes over mid-palate, followed closely behind by the mild astringency of pear skin. There's a lovely dot of sweetness in the citrus finish and aftertaste. Tussock Pinot Gris delivers good flavour definition and the wine has excellent structure, but not at the expense of unctuous texture.

Price: $18

Distant Land 07 Hawke's Bay Pinot Gris

Aroma: A lot like gewurztraminer with rose petal and pear aromas. An intense and attractive nose with some tropical "stink" of tinned guava.

Taste: Some fruit power and acid tingle sets this wine apart. The taste of sweet pears and pear skins, Turkish delight and some syrupy tinned fruit salad sit well with the firm acids. The result is a nicely balanced wine with decent flavour definition the finish has a light citrus flavour and spiciness that offsets residual sweetness nicely. This is among the best pinot gris we have reviewed.

Wondering why this wine was such a beauty, we contacted Peter Fredatovich of Distant Land Wines and he explained that 10 per cent of the wine had been matured in old French oak barrels that had previously had chardonnay in them. "I think that this gave [the wine] a nice character."

Price: About $20

Sanctuary 07 Marlborough Pinot Gris

Aroma: Light, syrupy and perfumed reminds us of nougat and guava.

Taste: A viscous, textural wine with syrupy pear sweetness; warming and very spicy on both finish and aftertaste. A huge, weighty style quite typical of the Grove Mill and Sanctuary labels. This wine has plenty of unctuous texture with a light flavour of pears. An easy drinking wine

Price: $21

Lawson's Dry Hills Marlborough 07 Unoaked Chardonnay

Aroma: Peaches, citrus, soda, warm hay and a dot of creaminess with a pleasant aroma but a little reserved.

Taste: All the action is on the palate with this wine. Weighty with plenty of peach and nectarine flavour and some pleasant acid tingle to cut through the fruit driven richness.

There is some creaminess to the texture this, as we later discovered, was thanks to some lees stirring rather than any malolactic fermentation.

A smart line of citrus flavour runs from start to aftertaste. The finish and aftertaste are creamy and laced with nectarine; a very classy wine with the texture of satin.

This is one of the very best unoaked chardonnays we've tried it has a depth of flavour not often experienced without the addition of some "oak work".

Price: Exceptional value at $21.

- The Marlborough Express