Vin gris is white wine made from red grapes, in particular pinot noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

. Pinot noir is a black grape

Grape

A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...

, but can also be used to make rosé

Rosé

A rosé is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.- Production techniques :There are three major ways to produce rosé...

, blush wine, or white wine. When the grapes are brought to the winery

Winery

A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...

 and crushed, the juice is run off and removed from contact with the skin, leaving the colour and flavour compounds from the skin behind. The juice is then typically fermented in stainless steel

Stainless steel

In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....

 tanks before being bottled shortly after, without any aging in oak barrels.

Producing a small volume of Vin gris (or rosé) can also be used as a technique to improve Pinot noir. Removing some clear juice increases the concentration of colour and flavour compounds from the skins in the remaining juice intended for making red wine; the resulting rosé is known as a saignée (bled).

Grape varieties

Another grape used to produce Vin Gris is Gamay

Gamay

Gamay is a purple-colored grape variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais and in the Loire Valley around Tours. Its full name is Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar, mentioned as long ago as the 15th century...

, particularly in Lorraine

Lorraine (province)

The Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....

, where the Côtes de Toul

Côtes de Toul

Côtes de Toul is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for French wine produced in the département of Meurthe-et-Moselle in the Lorraine région. The Côtes de Toul vineyards cover in an area close to Toul, to the west of the city of Nancy...

 zone produces a light and delighting Vin Gris. The vinification is the same as with Pinot Noir (short contact of the white juice with the red skins during the pressing), but the fruity flavour of the Gamay very much changes the taste of the wine.

Champagne is often made using this process, when it is known as blanc de noirs.