Grape Guide
Sauvignon Gris
RoséSauvignon Gris is a pink-skinned colour mutation of Sauvignon Blanc, grown on a small scale in the Loire, Bordeaux and Chile. It gives rounder, fuller and less piercing wines than its parent, with riper fruit and a gentle floral lift, and it is bottled alone or used to add body to blends.
Key Characteristics
- Pink to greyish-skinned bud mutation of Sauvignon Blanc, genetically almost identical to it
- Called Fié Gris, Fiers or Surin Gris in the Loire
- France had about 463 ha in 2009; Bordeaux alone was reported at about 466 ha around 2019
- Permitted in Graves and Médoc blanc white blends; not permitted in Sancerre
- Usually gives fuller, less pungent wines than Sauvignon Blanc
Typical Flavors
Major Regions
Bordeaux (Graves, Médoc blanc) · Touraine (Loire Valley) · San Antonio Valley (Chile) · Maipo Valley (Chile) · Leyda Valley (Chile) · Colchagua Valley (Chile) · Argentina, Uruguay and New Zealand (minor)
Also Known As
Fié Gris (Loire) · Fiers (Loire · Vienne valley) · Surin Gris (Loire) · Sauvignon Rose · Fié
Overview
Sauvignon Gris is a bud mutation of Sauvignon Blanc whose berries ripen pink to greyish-brown instead of green-gold. Genetically it is almost indistinguishable from its parent, yet it behaves differently in the cellar: the juice is generally less pungent and less sharply acidic, and the wines have more weight, a rounder mid-palate and a more floral, ripe-fruited profile. In France it is a minor variety, recorded at 463 ha in 2009, with the largest concentration now in Bordeaux, where plantings were reported at about 466 ha around 2019, more than double the figure of a decade before. Its use falls into two camps. In Bordeaux it is a blending component in dry whites, where permitted alongside Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle. In the Loire it survives mainly as old-vine plots under the local name Fié Gris, and in Chile a handful of producers bottle it alone, often from cooler sites. Elsewhere it is rare, with scattered plantings in New Zealand, Uruguay and Argentina.
Origins & History
Sauvignon Gris arose as a somatic mutation of Sauvignon Blanc: a change in skin pigmentation in one vine, which was then multiplied by cuttings. Since it is a mutation and not a cross, its DNA profile is for practical purposes that of Sauvignon Blanc, even though appellation rules and labels treat the two as separate varieties. Neither the date nor the place of the original mutation is documented. The parent variety is itself probably native to the Loire. It is an offspring of Savagnin with an unknown second parent. In the Gironde it also crossed spontaneously with Cabernet Franc, and that meeting gave rise to Cabernet Sauvignon. The Loire is also where the grey form carries its old local names: Sauvignon Rose, Surin Gris, Fiers and Fié Gris. Growers in the Loire and Vienne valleys long applied Fié and Fiers to Sauvignon, and both names trace back to the Latin word ferus, which means wild. A second colour mutation, Sauvignon Rouge, exists in very small quantities in the same region. Sauvignon Gris is thought to have reached Bordeaux and Chile in cuttings alongside Sauvignon Blanc and the vine sold in Chile as Sauvignon Vert, which is in fact the distinct variety Sauvignonasse. Its Bordeaux plantings have grown quickly in recent decades, and a few Chilean producers now release it as a varietal wine.
Viticultural Characteristics
As a mutation, Sauvignon Gris is thought to share the broad habit of Sauvignon Blanc, including a vigorous vine that benefits from canopy management and clusters that can be vulnerable to botrytis and grey rot in humid vintages. Its pink-grey skins distinguish it visibly from the parent at harvest, and the wines are often described as weightier. Chilean growers favour cool coastal sites such as San Antonio and Leyda, while Loire examples come from old vines. Many old plots are mixed with Sauvignon Blanc, so the true area is hard to count and official figures may understate it.
Wine Styles & Characteristics
Varietal Sauvignon Gris is typically dry, medium to full in body, with stone fruit, grapefruit and white flowers, and less of the nettle and gooseberry edge of Sauvignon Blanc. Chilean examples, from Maipo and San Antonio among others, are generally fresh and textural, and some producers use lees contact to add breadth. In the Loire, old-vine Fié Gris cuvées are bottled as Vin de France or IGP Val de Loire, since the variety is not permitted in several leading appellations and is not accepted as a single-variety AOC wine. In Bordeaux it is mostly a minor partner in dry white blends alongside Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, contributing aromatic lift and body.