Pinot gris/grigio sales: a gregional perspective

Wines & Vines, Jan, 2003 by Tina Caputo

The Wine Club Santa Clara, Calif.

According to Hector Figuera, wine specialist for The Wine Club, Chardonnay is still king, with Pinot gris lagging far behind. "Chardonnay is our No. 1 white varietal," he said. When asked about No. 2, his answer was the same:

"Chardonnay." After that, he said, the rest are just a drop in the bucket.

"Pinot gris and Pinot grigio are equally hard to sell," Figuera said. "Here in California a lot of people drink--guess what--California wines. They drink Chardonnay, so we must have at least 150 in stock. Right now we're pretty rich in Pinot grigios, so we probably have about six or eight, and we may have one or two Pinot gris on the floor. I think Pinot grigio is a good summer wine, but (the weather) is getting cooler so we won't sell as much."

Sherry-Lehmann New York, N.Y.

Unlike The Wine Club, New York's Sherry-Lehmann currently carries 15 Pinot grigios and about a dozen Pinot gris--and they have no problem selling them.

"I spend a decent amount of time in Europe sourcing wines and it's amazing that Pinot grigio is in very short supply these days," said Sherry-Lehmann president Michael Yurch. "Certainly world demand would reflect (an increase in popularity)."

Though the company sells plenty of Pinot gris from all over the world, Yurch said the Italian wines are showing the most growth. "Italian Pinot grigio is really where the uptake in sales is," he said. "It's an idea whose time has come. People are looking for alternatives to white wines such as Chardonnay, and finding that most of the Italian wines are light and easy to drink, and very user-friendly."

As wine drinkers tire of Chardonnay, they come into Sherry-Lehmann looking for Pinot grigio. "When we do parties people ask for it," Yurch said. "My sister-in-law just threw a big birthday party for my niece and Pinot grigio is what they wanted, and it's what people enjoyed. It's definitely something that's on consumers' lips when they walk in the door these days."

City Wine Denver, Co.

Rich Booth, manager of City Wine in Denver, agrees. "There's been more of an increase with Pinot grigio than Pinot gris," he said. In the last two summer seasons, Pinot grigio has just taken off."

According to Booth, Pinot grigio's jump in popularity is due to word-of-mouth, rather than marketing or advertising. "A lot of people come in looking for a Pinot grigio they had at a party," he said. "They say, 'I really like Pinot grigios--they're light and they're cheap.' The Pinot grigios we sell are mostly in the $6.99 to $9.99 range. The Pinot gris from California are $15.99-$16.99, and the ones from France are mostly around $19.99 and the low $20 range. In my experience, people who are more palate educated like Pinot gris. But if they're looking for a nice, light fresh white for summer time drinking, they go with an inexpensive Pinot grigio."

Whatever version U.S. consumers prefer--Italian Pinot grigio, Oregon Pinot gris, Alsace Pinot gris or any of the wine s other incarnations--it looks like the varietal is here to stay. And with a little more consumer education on the Pinot gris end, we may even see a more dramatic sales increase by this time next year.