All the medal-winning wines from the Global Pinot Gris Masters 2022

This year’s Global Pinot Gris Masters saw wines from Trentino-Alto Adige shine, although there were some first-rate samples from England and Moldova too, as you can see in our report on the competition for 2022.

For the majority, the grape Pinot Gris, best known as by its Italian name, Pinot Grigio is associated with one thing: light, fresh-tasting white wines from northern Italy. But, as this year’s Global Pinot Gris Masters once again proved, there is a surprising level of stylistic diversity when it comes to this single grape, as well as an increasingly broad range of sources.

Yes, the mainstay of the wines in this year’s competition were fairly delicate and bright whites from Italy, but there were also drops from Eastern Europe, Australia and New Zealand. And there were fuller expressions, including some that were aged in oak – as one would more commonly do with Chardonnay – along with a set of lovely sparkling wines, and excellent rosés: Pinot Gris, with its copper-coloured berries, is ideally suited to the creation of pale pink wines following a brief skin-contact.

While we didn’t taste any sweeter wines this year, Pinot Gris can be the source of outstanding late-harvest as well as botrytised expressions that are richly sweet and long-lived – the region of Alsace being the most famous source of such styles.

However, to focus on the samples in 2022’s Pinot Gris Masters, the tasting kicked off with a small flight of sparkling wines. Among these were some clean and zesty tank-method ones from the Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC – wines that offer a drier, brighter and slightly less aromatic alternative to Prosecco. For a different expression, there was also a bottle-fermented example from England, which, following seven years lees-ageing, was creamy and bready, but also, in keeping with other English sparkling wines, fresh tasting, with plenty of crisp-apple-like acidity.

Among the still wines, starting with the cheapest expressions, it was notable how good the samples were from Trentino-Alto Adige, where the verdant hills of this Italian region, which rises up towards the Dolomites, produce refreshing examples, but with plenty of appealing orchard fruit flavours, primarily apple and pear. But coming close in quality among the sub £10 Pinot Grigios were those from Romania and Moldava, along with other parts of Italy and the Yarra Valley in Australia.

As the tasting incorporated increasingly pricier expressions, it was still those Pinot Gris from northern Italy (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige) that gained the Gold medals. Nevertheless, strong Silvers were awarded to wines from New Zealand – a source of increasingly good Pinot Gris, often in a slightly more textural, oilier style than Italy – and a top-end example from Romania, called Hyperion from The Iconic Estate.

Meanwhile, those wines that had been made and aged in oak, showed that the flavours of fine Pinot Gris can be successfully married to barrel-sourced characters and texture, with Mezzacorona’s Pinot Grigio Riserva from Trentino-Alto Adige being the star performer in this niche category, although La Roncaia from Friuli-Venezia Giulia was also good.

Finally, among the rosés, although we didn’t award any Gold medals to the pink Pinot Gris in this year’s Masters, we had a set of Silvers, including one from Moldova’s Vinăria Sălcuța. Such wines, pale and dry, showed that Pinot Gris can make a pretty and refreshing, as well as affordable alternative to the pinks from Provence.

Please read on to find out more about The Global Pinot Gris Masters, as well as to see all the medal-winning wines from this year’s competition, starting with sparkling wines, and then onto still wines, which are arranged according to price band and style (unoaked, oaked, rosé). 

About the competition

With high-quality judges and a unique sampling process, The Global Pinot Grigio Masters provides a chance for your wines to star.

The 2022 competition was judged on 5 July at Ibis Styles, London, employing experienced judges, including Patrick Schmitt MW, Patricia Stefanowicz MW, Beverly Tabbron MW, Andrea Briccarello, Adam Porter MW and Jonathan Pedley MW.

The top wines were awarded Gold, Silver, or Bronze medals according to their result, and those expressions that stood out as being outstanding in their field received the ultimate accolade – the title of Rosé Master. This report features the medal winners only.

Please visit The Global Wine Masters website for more information, or, to enter future competitions – giving you the chance to feature online and in print – please call: +44 (0) 20 7803 2420 or email Sophie Raichura at: sophie@thedrinksbusiness.com