At Domaine des Homs in Minervois, Jean-Marc de Crozals has given Grenache Gris a rare solo role, creating a white wine in tiny quantities that feels both recognisable and genuinely unexpected. More than a curiosity, it opens a broader conversation about climate change and the future of Mediterranean viticulture.
Grenache is one of the Mediterranean’s great chameleons. We know it as a generous, sun-loving black grape variety and a key component of the Rhône’s famous blends. We also know it as Garnacha in Spain and Cannonau in Sardegna. Grenache Blanc, meanwhile, has increasingly emerged from the shadows, producing intriguing wines with an unmistakably Mediterranean character.
But somewhere between the white-skinned Grenache Blanc and the black-skinned Grenache Noir lies another member of the family, distinguished by its pinkish-grey skin: Grenache Gris. Also born from mutation of Grenache noir is not widespread and spent much of its history in a supporting role.
At Domaine des Homs in Minervois, Jean-Marc de Crozals decided to bring it centre stage. His first varietal white Grenache Gris, from the 2025 vintage, has been released in tiny quantities. Yet behind those few bottles lies a much larger story: that of an old Mediterranean variety finding renewed relevance as the climate warms.
Just between black and white
Grenache Gris is an old colour mutation of Grenache Noir, itself generally considered to have originated in Spain, most probably in Aragón. Alongside Grenache Blanc, it belongs to the same genetic family — different colours of one of the Mediterranean’s most adaptable grapes.
As Jancis Robinson notes in The Oxford Companion to Wine, Grenache Gris is “a pink-skinned mutation of Grenache Noir”, historically most important in Roussillon. She also describes it as more perfumed than Grenache Blanc — an interesting distinction for a variety that has spent much of its history hidden inside blends.
Visually, its berries fall somewhere between the pale skins of Grenache Blanc and the black skins of Grenache Noir. Aromatically, however, Grenache Gris has an identity of its own: generous and expressive, capable of producing fairly full-bodied wines without necessarily sacrificing freshness.
Historically, Grenache Gris was rarely given the leading role. In France, it became particularly rooted in Roussillon, with plantings extending into neighbouring Aude — where Domaine des Homs is located — as well as Provence, Corsica and the Rhône Valley.
Rather than being made into a standalone wine, Grenache Gris was more often absorbed into blends, frequently alongside Grenache Blanc and Macabeu. The variety also has longstanding ties to the Mediterranean tradition of fortified and oxidative wines.
Its place in Roussillon is merely historical it is authorised as a principal variety for rosé wines and today listed as a complementary variety for whites.
According to Thomas Oui, an oenologist and consultant in the Rhône Valley, Grenache Gris is a particularly interesting variety to work with. Unlike Grenache Blanc, which can be sensitive to oxidation, Grenache Gris contains small amounts of tannin that provide greater natural protection, while also contributing to the variety’s distinctive aromatic character.
This is why even experienced wine lovers may know Grenache very well without ever having consciously tasted Grenache Gris. Today, however, that relative obscurity is beginning to look particularly promising
When an historical variety answers a new question
Robinson herself has been drawing attention to the variety for some time. In her 2016 article In Praise of Grenache Gris, she described varietal Grenache Gris as relatively rare and singled out wines from Minervois as evidence of its potential. The geographical connection is striking: almost a decade later, Domaine des Homs is exploring the same variety in the same region, but against a new background — the increasingly urgent question of how Mediterranean vineyards adapt to a warmer, drier climate.
Jean-Marc’s decision to plant Grenache Gris at Domaine des Homs was not driven by a desire to add a rare grape to the range. The reason was far more practical: climate change.
Working in the increasingly hot and dry conditions of Minervois, he began looking more closely at varieties of Mediterranean origin — grapes historically adapted to the climates of Spain and Italy and capable of thriving in the estate’s dry, stony soils. Grenache Gris was one of them.
The first vines were planted in 2018 and 2019. Today, Domaine des Homs has 1.5 hectares of Grenache Gris, around 0.7 hectares of which are already in production.
Grenache Gris has proved remarkably well suited to the estate. Its upright growth habit and comparatively small number of lateral shoots — the non-fruit-bearing shoots that need to be removed during the season — mean less canopy work in the vineyard. It is robust, crops reliably and, crucially in an increasingly hot Mediterranean climate, does not tend towards excessive sugar accumulation.
For growers in warm regions, the challenge today is no longer simply to achieve ripeness, but to achieve it without excess. Sugar can accumulate too quickly, pushing potential alcohol upwards before the fruit has reached the balance a winemaker is looking for. This is where Grenache Gris becomes particularly interesting.
The grapes keep good pH and bring freshness and minerality to the wine. Yet the wine tastes fresh. Fennel, fresh herbs and other lifted Mediterranean notes run through the fruit, enhancing an impression of brightness and tension.
For Jean-Marc, Grenache Gris therefore offers something increasingly valuable: ripeness without excessive sugar, Mediterranean character without heaviness, and a sense of freshness that does not depend on high acidity alone.
From rosé to white
There is another interesting twist to the story. Domaine des Homs did not originally plant Grenache Gris with this particular white wine in mind.
Jean-Marc initially used it for rosé — a role with deep roots in southern France and one that is still reflected in the regulations of AOC Côtes Minervois, where Grenache gris can represent until 50% of the total blend.
White Grenache Gris has historically been more discreet, usually appearing as part of a blend rather than on its own. So when Jean-Marc decided, with the 2025 vintage, to vinify it separately as a white wine, he effectively reversed its traditional supporting role.
This new release is therefore best understood not as the final outcome of a long-term project, but as the beginning of an experiment — the first opportunity to hear what Grenache Gris has to say when given a solo part.
The wine is made from 100% Grenache Gris. Part of the must ferments in barrel, while the remainder is handled in a way that preserves the purity and brightness of the fruit. Ageing on fine lees and bâtonnage and performing bâtonnage to add texture, but the aim is not richness for richness’s sake.
The resulting wine offers notes of stone fruit, citrus, flowers and almond, with fennel and fresh Mediterranean herbs adding lift. Grenache’s characteristic breadth is there, but balanced by freshness and energy. Perhaps it is precisely this tension between two poles that makes the wine so compelling: it is recognisably Mediterranean, yet never feels heavy.
Rarity is not the point
The contemporary wine world has an understandable fascination with forgotten varieties. Old grapes are brought back from obscurity, tiny vineyards are rescued from extinction, and long-forgotten names begin to reappear on labels.
But rarity alone is not a particularly convincing reason for a wine to be interesting.
Grenache Gris remains a relatively minor presence compared with the great international varieties, its French stronghold still firmly in the Mediterranean south, particularly Roussillon and neighbouring Languedoc. Yet precisely the characteristics that made it at home there — robustness, an affinity with heat, drought and stony soils, reliable production and aromatic character — are beginning to look remarkably contemporary.
Jean-Marc is not alone in noticing this. He sees growing interest in Grenache Gris among other growers in Languedoc, even if relatively few currently work with the variety.
There is a certain beautiful irony in this. For decades, viticulture pursued modernity through new technologies and internationally successful grape varieties. Climate change is now forcing us to ask a very different question:
What if some of the answers had been growing around the Mediterranean all along?
The future of Grenache Gris may therefore be driven not by nostalgia, but by practical necessity.
For export markets, the story offers another advantage. Introducing buyers to an unfamiliar grape variety is not always easy. Buyers, sommeliers and consumers need a reason to remember its name, understand where it belongs and ultimately choose the bottle. With Grenache Gris, half of that work has already been done: everyone knows Grenache, but not everyone knows its Gris incarnation.
It is precisely this combination of recognition and discovery that makes Domaine des Homs’ Grenache Gris such a compelling proposition for restaurants and specialist wine retailers. Sommeliers are offered something unusual without it becoming esoteric. Importers, meanwhile, gain a wine made in tiny quantities — one capable of opening a much broader conversation about Minervois, southern France and the changing face of Mediterranean viticulture.
At Domaine des Homs, Jean-Marc de Crozals has simply given the variety a little more room — and discovered that this old, almost forgotten shade of Grenache may have something surprisingly relevant to say about contemporary wine. Not because it is rare, but because it fits its place. And, increasingly, its time.
