Results of the 2024 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio

Category Overview by Judge Treve Ring

(Jump straight to the medal winners.)

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 off 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.

And the winners are…

EastDell 2023 Pinot Grigio, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Henry of Pelham 2023 Pinot Grigio, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Inniskillin Niagara 2022 Reserve Pinot Gris, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Marynissen Estates 2023 Pinot Grigio, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Mayhem 2023 Pinot Gris, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Unsworth Vineyards 2023 Saison Vineyard Pinot Gris, Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Grange of Prince Edward 2023 Pinot Gris Isabella Block I Northfield Block, Prince Edward County, Ontario
Lake Breeze 2023 Pinot Gris, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Lighthall Vineyards 2023 Pinot Gris, Prince Edward County, Ontario
Peak Cellars 2022 Pinot Gris, Lake Country, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
SpearHead 2022 Pinot Gris Golden Retreat Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
The Good Earth 2022 Pinot Grigio, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Tightrope 2023 Pinot Gris, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Vignoble Camy 2023 Pinot Gris, Quebec

20 Bees N/V Pinot Grigio, Ontario
3Benches Estate Winery 2022 Pinot Gris, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
50th Parallel Estate 2023 Pinot Gris, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Amo 2021 Pinot Gris, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Fort Berens 2023 Pinot Gris, British Columbia
Hainle Vineyards 2022 Pinot Gris, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
High Note Estate Winery 2023 Soubrette Pinot Grigio, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Hillside Winery 2023 Unoaked Pinot Gris, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Kismet 2023 Pinot Grigio, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Magnotta 2023 Pinot Grigio Venture Series, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Malivoire 2023 Pinot Gris, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Mayhem 2023 Anarchy Pinot Gris Belich Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
MW Cellars 2023 Pinot Gris, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Organized Crime 2023 Pinot Gris, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Peak Cellars 2022 Glacial Till Pinot Gris, Lake Country, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Solvero 2023 Pinot Gris, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Sprucewood Shores 2023 Pierce’s Pinot Grigio Hawk’s Flight Reserve, Lake Erie North Shore, Ontario
Strewn 2023 Pinot Grigio, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
The Foreign Affair 2023 Pinot Grigio, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Three Dog Winery 2023 Pinot Grigio, Ontario
Vieni Estates 2023 Pinot Grigio , Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Villa Romana 2023 Pinotino Pinot Gris, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Wayne Gretzky 2022 Signature Series Pinot Grigio, Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

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