Results from the 2024 Nationals – Pinot Gris/Grigio

Announcing the Results from the 2024 National Wine Awards of Canada

The 2024 Nationals took place in Niagara Falls from June 21st to 25th. Today, we are pleased to announce the winners in the Pinot Gris/Grigio category. Category results will be rolling out throughout the rest of July, with the final Platinum, Best Performing Small Winery, and Winery of the Year announcements at the end of the month. We hope that you will stay tuned to follow the results!

We’ve asked a few of our judges to summarize their impressions of each category. Today we are pleased to present the Pinot Gris/Grigio winners.

Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio

Category Overview by Judge Treve Ring

If any grape has the right to an identity crisis, it’s Pinot Gris. This white wine grape is a mutation clone of the black Pinot Noir grape. The grape’s skin colour varies wildly, sometimes even within the same bunch, and the wines produced from Pinot Gris also vary in hue, from palest yellow to deep golden to blushing salmon. Disguises aside, Pinot Gris also goes by its Italian name, Pinot Grigio. In sweepingly broad strokes, wines made in the fresh, crisp and unoaked style of Veneto adopt Grigio, while those in a richer, riper version go by Gris, though of course these are generalizations and lines are blurred.

This year’s medal winners were an equal mix of styles, with seemingly equal parts crisp and crunchy, and riper and rounder. Though it’s the number one planted white grape in BC, there were no Platinums this year, and the Gold and Silver medalists were split between ON and BC, with one very smart Gold – Unsworth Vineyards 2023 Saison Vineyard Pinot Gris. The diversity of styles, and price points (starting sub $14) means there surely is a Canadian PG out there to suit everyone’s tastes, and budget.

NWAC 2024 Sponsors: