B.C. PINOT GRIS

Which variety shouts B.C. and which is likely to impress our visitors? The answer to all these questions should be pinot gris, a grape that first appeared in B.C. in 1976 at the Winfield-based Gray Monk Estate owned by George and Trudy Heiss. Growers like it because it's an early ripener. Consumers like it because it tastes good. In fact, it pairs so well with such a wide variety of food it's difficult to peg it to any one dish. Salmon is a natural, but some say it should only be with grilled; others insist it must be poached. I like it with local goat cheese, but scallops and prawns are a fine match, too. From earthy to fruity and everything in between, the taste of pinot gris is capturing the palates of British Columbians like no other varietal. The Heiss family obviously had lofty aspirations for its pinot gris -- they named their winery Gray Monk, a colloquial expression used in Austria and Hungary for the pinot gris grape. Fittingly, some 25 years later, the grape that's become synonymous with Gray Monk is playing a much greater role as it makes its move to become B.C.'s signature variety. Gray Monk originally took delivery of 50 pinot gris vines from Alsace in 1976. That same summer Dr. Helmut Becker, the director of grape breeding at Germany's Geisenheim Institute, visited the Okanagan Valley and offered George Heiss a selection of vines from Geisenheim research plots. Heiss suggested that the vines be made available to all growers, and ever since, pinot gris has spread from one end of the valley to other, although until recently the volumes produced have never been very large. In the late '70s, the '80s and even into the early 1990s, chardonnay was the wine of choice among B.C. growers and drinkers. In the Okanagan, if it wasn't chardonnay going into the ground, it was its look-alike and often taste-alike partner, pinot blanc. Pinot gris still ranks third among all B.C. white grapes produced, but it is closing the gap on pinot blanc very quickly. As a measure of its popularity, last year the total litres sold of pinot gris were 217,822. That's up 35 per cent over the 2000 vintage whose total litres, 161,059, were up 63 per cent over the 1999 production. Interestingly it may have been Oregon's insistence on elevating pinot gris' stature (no doubt a point of difference to California's chardonnay) that finally got B.C. growers thinking about it as a viable white varietal. As the word spread about Oregon or Pacific Northwest pinot gris, the Okanagan edition gained increased notoriety. The good news, at least in my estimation, is B.C. pinot gris is more consistent in style, generally fresher and without doubt much better value than anything coming out of Oregon. That is particularly true of our un-wooded offerings -- clearly the best style we are making. A little oak is fine, and some wineries, like Blue Mountain, do it exceedingly well, but the tendency is to be too heavy-handed, thus flattening out the fruit and destroying the vibrant nature of the wine. As for the latest Gray Monk Pinot Gris ($13.95; #118638), well, it comes with a lots of fresh earthy fruit and a terrific price. And be sure to keep your eyes open for a new pinot gris from the Heiss family that is a special milestone for the pioneering couple. To mark the 20th anniversary of the winery, the 30th anniversary of the vineyard and the 40th year of their marriage later this summer, Gray Monk will release Pinot Gris Odyssey. It's crafted from the original pinot gris vines planted at Gray Monk in 1976 and is designed to celebrate the signature stature of pinot gris envisioned 25 years earlier by George and Trudy Heiss. - - - When you go looking for 2001 pinot gris, it might be useful to know which producers won accolades for their previous editions. (Note that wines with only a price but no stock code number are usually available only through the winery or possibly through VQA specialty stores.) At the 2002 Best of B.C. Varietal Competition held at the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival, B.C. winemakers awarded a gold to the 2001 Red Rooster Winery ($13.95; #533174). The silver went to the much improved Hawthorne Mountain 2000 ($16.95; #704999) and the bronze to Andre's for its Peller Estates 2001 Founders Limited Edition ($12.95, #528430). Last fall, at the Wine Access magazine Canadian Wine Awards, the top mark (88 out of 100 points) went to the 2000 Wild Goose ($11.95; #536227). Other top B.C. scorers were: 1999 Hester Creek (87 points; $12.85; #560037), 2000 Tinhorn Creek (86 points; $13.95; #530683), and three at 85 points: Calona 2000 Artist Series ($11.95; #505222), 2000 CedarCreek ($15.95; #561175) and Mission Hill 1999 Reserve ($12.95; #563981). At the 2002 All-Canada Wine Championships held in Windsor, Ont., gold medals for pinot gris went to: Hawthorne Mountain 2000 ($16.95; #704999) and Vancouver Island's Blue Grouse Vineyards 2000 ($16). Other names to look for as the 2001 pinot gris begins to roll out include: Alderlea ($13), Blue Mountain ($20), Burrowing Owl ($20; #510941), Cherry Point ($15), Gehringer Optimum ($20), Hillside Estate ($13.90; #536219), Lake Breeze ($14), La Frenz ($15), Mt. Boucherie ($11.90; #602094) and Nichol ($16).