Have you noticed that in any country outside of France, Australia and New Zealand winemakers label Pinot Gris as Pinot Grigio?
In some ways this is a good thing as the godawful offerings from Italy, USA and South America are basically shit. The wines are usually made from under ripe grapes and are sulphured to hell.
In Northern Italy the grapes don't ripen properly because the climate isn't good enough and in warmer countries grapes are picked early, before they are fully ripe to retain 'freshness'. What a lot of codswallop (they do this in South Africa with Sauvignon Blanc, trying to emulate a Marlborough style) as all you get is wine made from sour grapes that tastes weak, bitter and because it's basically out of balance, doctored with preservatives.
Avoid it al all costs.
What really pisses me off though is that now producers of fairly good Pinot Gris from countries that can make the stuff properly, are labelling it as Pinot Grigio. This doesn't include France however but that's just attributable to their arrogance.
This is done so that stupid consumers in UK, Canada and USA can recognise their 'favourite' plonk. Why they think that Pinot Grigio should be their favourite is anyone's guess - either they are stupid or have been cleverly duped by the marketers.
