Browse Tag

pinot grigio

Aqui-ous

Albola 2010 Aquileia Pinot Grigio (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – This “wine” achieves the remarkable feat of tasting like nothing. Most water has more flavor. Vodka has more flavor. Air has more flavor. This tastes like absolutely nothing, and I can’t imagine it to be an accident. (7/12)

Corazon

Gaetano d’Aquino 2011 Pinot Grigio delle Venezie (Veneto) – Sticky, confected lime candy with very spiky acidity that doesn’t seem entire ripe (or there are other possible interpretations, I suppose). Industrial. (7/12)

For richer or Porer

Lageder 2004 Pinot Grigio Benefizium Porer (Alto Adige) – An aging experiment gone…well not awry, exactly. There have been developments. But the creamier texture, the roundness, and the extra weight are all in the service of a much less interesting wine than this was in its youth. That precision has dulled is no surprise, but despite what appears at first glance to be added concentration is in fact no more than dilution-masking mass. In a way, it takes more like pinot gris than it did before. But it tastes less of the Alto Adige. I’m perfectly willing to believe there’s ageable pinot grigio from this region (pinot gris can age just fine from Alsace, dry or sweet, as long as it retains sufficient acidity), but as I’d have bet on this being one of them, maybe I’m looking for the wrong things. (1/12)

A miti wind

Lageder 2009 Vigneti delle Dolomiti Pinot Grigio (Trentino) – Pinot grigio for those who don’t like pinot grigio, and this is only the basic version: firm, rock-infused, with restrained, polished fruit and just enough grip. (11/11)

The Longoria road home

Longoria 2010 Pinot Grigio (Santa Barbara County) – Herbed green apple, crisp and clean. Very, very clean. There’s as much light in this wine as there is fruit. (11/11)

Brancott flakes

Montana “Brancott” 2007 Pinot Grigio (North Island) – Quite sweet, and that’s very nearly the entirety of its character. (11/10)

Nader

Armani 2009 Corvara Pinot Grigio Valdadige (Trentino) – Decent straddling of the line between insipid plonk and something more mineral-driven and interesting. And there’s really not much more to be said about it. (5/10)

Door Nobilo

Nobilo “Regional Collection” 2008 Pinot Grigio (East Coast) – Big yellow/white/green fruit with a flat finish. Simple and boring. (3/09)

Pighin out

[vineyard]Pighin 2005 Grave Pinot Grigio (Friuli) – There’s an initial appeal of grapefruit and green grape, but the palate turns to plastic and paint, and there’s no temperature at which the wine can be improved. Not as insipid a drink as some mass-market pinot grigios, but rather painful nonetheless. (10/08)

Palmina card

[bottle & glasses]Palmina 2006 Pinot Grigio (Santa Barbara County) – Decidedly grigio rather than gris, bringing a froth of grapefruit rind, juice, and zippy herbality up front, and leaving them center-stage while bigger, less aggressive citrus and melon notes improvise in the background. Very good acidity lends worthy structure. The finish is a bit short, but otherwise this is a tasty wine, and one that will probably fool many as to origin. (4/08)

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