Gray Riesling

"Gray Riesling" is a California misnomer: the grape has no relation to true Riesling. The atlas identifies it as Trousseau Gris, a gray-berried mutation of the French red grape Trousseau, originally from the Jura. CDFA has tracked it continuously since 2000, but bearing acreage was only reported once, 51 acres in 2011 spread across five North Coast and Central Valley counties including Napa and Sonoma. Crush volumes are small, peaking near 105 tons in a year, with prices reaching about $3,500 a ton. It makes a soft, low-acid white, historically bottled as an easy, unpretentious wine under its old borrowed name.