A bit of a Gris area….

Tuesday, January 27th, 2015

If the latest spat of crossbreds is anything to go by I can’t help thinking we’re running out of ‘brand new’.. Take the pastry world who has recently given us the duffin (a cross between a donut and a muffin) and the cronut (a cross between a croissant and a doughnut) there’s a definite trend here…. Then there’s the Prius, of course. My personal favourites are from the dog world: what was once a Heinz 57 is now rebranded with a catchy name like the Cocker-poo.

Taking two things and blending them together in the wine world is nothing new, albeit less amusing than the dogs and doughnuts. Take Bordeaux for example who has built its history on blending grapes together and have been doing it successfully for centuries. With this in mind you’d be forgiven for thinking a ‘new’ wine hailing from NZ were just another blend or a hybrid of sorts. But no, on the other side of the world the New Zealanders, not satisfied with one of the wine worlds biggest success stories of the 21century, are turning their backs on Sauvignon Blanc with the release of Sauvignon Gris, a grape that’s been around for donkeys but is now having its turn in the spot light. And the first to reach the UK in any sort of scale is from Brancott Estate.

Call me a traditionalist but give me a bottle of the blanc variety any day, I found it devoid of the vibrancy I take for granted in NZ wines and generally lacking direction but I maybe made to eat humble duffins as it won Gold at the International Wine & Spirit Competition 2014. A bit of a gris area perhaps? Find it online and in stores at Tesco, £10.49, to decide for yourselves.
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