This grape variety has “noble” origins, as it is a colour mutation of Pinot Noir that happened at different times in different places in Burgundy. It is the same variety as Pinot Gris. The skin of Pinot Gris grape has a distinctive greyish, slightly pink colour, hence its name.

It originated in Burgundy where it was known since the Middle Ages and then spread to other regions (Switzerland, Germany, etc). It was probably called “Fromenteau”, although it is not certain as this name was also given to another grape variety called Savagnin.

​Legend has it that it was a favourite of Holy Emperor Charles IV who apparently in 1375 had cuttings of this grape imported to Hungary and planted there by Cistercian monks. The same theory says that Pinot Gris was then brought from Hungary to the French region of Alsace by a general who had taken possession of the Hungarian city of Tokay. That would explain why for several centuries it was called Tokay d’Alsace there.The earliest confirmed mention of Pinot Gris was in 1711 in Germany, Rheinland-Pfalz to be precise, where it was discovered growing wild in a garden by a wine merchant named Johann Seger Ruland. In France it was first mentioned a year later, in 1712 with the name Auvernat Gris. Other names such as Beurot or Bureau were used for this variety, but the modern name Pinot Gris appeared for the first time in 1783-1784 in Flavigny, in the Côte d’Or.