Pinot Gris gets a bit of a bad rap – perhaps because it seems to be everywhere – but did you know that the top-ranked wine in California is a Pinot Gris?

No, really. I read it in a newspaper. Specifically, I read it in the Philadelphia Inquirer this week in a feature headlined "Not all California wines are equal. Here's how they rank". At the bottom, was a large picture of the one specific wine mentioned and it turns out that the top wine from California (according to the Inquirer, anyway) is the Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Gris.

That's quite an achievement for a wine up against the likes of Harlan, Sine Qua Non and Opus One, although I'm not entirely sure that we can place too much faith in that particular ranking. Pinot Gris makes some wonderful wines, but it's never likely to challenge the supremacy of Pinot Noir or Cabernet. Especially not in California, notwithstanding the Trojan work of the Kendall-Jackson winemaking team.

But, to be serious for a moment, Pinot Gris definitely has an image issue and much of that stems from the existence of Pinot Grigio.

Pinot Grigio is not, as some people assume, a separate grape variety, but it might as well be. Pinot Grigio is simply the Italian version of Pinot Gris and the styles could hardly be more different. While Grigio wines offer crisp, light, easy-drinking wines, with relatively high acid and a hint of green apples on the palate, Gris wines can range from a similar style to concentrated, powerful dessert wines of great finesse and beauty.

This confusion between the two styles works against Pinot Gris. Grigio has given itself something of a reputation for the more cheap-and-cheerful style, a dry white wine for stressed drinkers everywhere, who don't particularly want to discuss the subtle nuances of the wine with their tablemates. Grigio tends to be the sort of wine that is history within a couple of hours of purchase.

That's not a bad thing in itself and Grigio doesn't try to be what it isn't. It's not claiming to be the kind of earth-stopping wine that people remember in the wee small hours of their senescence, it's just honest wine that appeals to many (oh, so many) as a simple beverage, even though it is often much better than that description suggests. It's really Pinot Gris that is the problem.

Pinot Gris often isn't sure what it wants to be; does it want to be the sort of fun, ephemeral wine normally associated with the Grigio tag, or does it want to be taken seriously? In Alsace, they take it very seriously indeed. The wines there cover a spectrum of styles from bone-dry to lusciously sweet and from early drinking, basic cuvées to long-lived grand cru wines.

Elsewhere, it can be a different story and what one winemaker describes as classic Gris flavors might not be what another would say and confusion slips into the mind of the consumer. Also, some producers call their wines Pinot Gris, but make them in what is clearly a Grigio style, further muddying the waters. For many wineries, Pinot Gris is a cashflow wine, that can be turned around quickly and plentifully in the winery. Questions of style don't necessarily come into it.

But the better producers make some exquisite wines and, as you'll see from the list, the very best aim for a particular style.

As usual, we are using the aggregated weighted critic scores that Wine-Searcher allots to each wine as our guide. We measure this score to four decimal places (even though we only display the rounded, two-digit total), so even wines with the same rounded score are in strict order.

Best Pinot Gris Wines on Wine-Searcher:

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Selection de Grains Nobles Trie Spéciale 95 $206

Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg Quintessence de Grains Nobles 95 $532

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Heimbourg Turckheim Selection de Grains Nobles 95 $206

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rotenberg Selection de Grains Nobles 94 $166

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Selection de Grains Nobles 94 $152

Domaine Weinbach Pinot Gris Altenbourg Selection de Grains Nobles 94 $225

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Selection de Grains Nobles Trie Spéciale 94 $203

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl Vendange Tardive 94 $92

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos Saint Urbain 93 $85

Hugel & Fils Pinot Gris Selection de Grains Nobles 93 $119

Two main things become immediately clear. First, the best Pinot Gris comes from Alsace and the best Alsace Pinot Gris would appear to come from Domaine Zind-Humbrecht. It's quite an achievement to dominate this list so heavily, especially for a winery that celebrated its 60th birthday this year.

The other thing that is clear is that Pinot Gris lends itself to dessert wine much more than you would think from staring at the retail shelves. Nine out of 10 wines here are either botryitized (sélection de grains nobles) or late-harvest (vendange tardive). Just the one is made in a drier style and even that one has more flesh than acid on its bones.

Perhaps its time to redefine the Gris/Grigio styles to reflect these huge differences, but it's worth remembering this list the next time a bar or restaurant recommends Pinot Gris as a "dry" white wine.

To view on Wine-Searcher, please click here.