Browse Tag

pinot gris

Jeanne Gris or Dark Phoenix?

Trimbach 2000 Pinot Gris “Hommage à Jeanne” (Alsace) – Crystal and pear, lightly sweet with an icy glacier of structure. Steel and quartz shards. Terrific acidity. This has the aromatics of pinot gris but all the structure of a great riesling. Fantastic. (2/08)

Reznortino

Vivallis 2007 Pinot Grigio (Trentino) – Crisp, dry, and powdery. Melon, ripe Granny Smith apple. Simple, pure fruit. Absolutely not complex in any way. (2/08)

Andy

Rimu Grove 2003 Pinot Gris “Vendange Tardive” (Nelson) – Pear and burnt caramel. Soft. Balanced between sugar and acidity, but just not very interesting. For too many producers, “late harvest” only means excessive residual sugar, while the wines that actually deserve the label deliver more than elevated brix. (3/05)

Mandela

Rimu Grove 2004 Pinot Gris (Nelson) – Hot. Ripe pear with a sticky consistency. Long. Balanced in the context of a pinot gris pushed to and slightly beyond its limits, but one wishes for a little more acidity and a lot more precision. I don’t think this will have a long life, but it’s pleasant in the near term. (3/05)

Rimu Grove 2004 Pinot Gris (Nelson) – Take two, this time with dinner. Sweaty and salty, with funky banana oil and rotten pear aromatics. Dried apricot, too. It’s more varietally typical with food, which is welcome, but nonetheless it comes off more like some sort of mediocre, teenaged chardonnay than a true pinot gris. Where’s the fresh, spicy pear? Alternatively, where’s the lightly fruity fennel note? And is there any acidity to be had? I just don’t think this wine is getting it done, and in comparison to the luncheon leftovers of a Peregrine Pinot Gris, it tastes and feels rather clumsy. (3/05)

Stiftskellereis & stones

Stiftskellerei Neustift Abbazia di Novacella 2005 Pinot Grigio Valle Isarco (Alto Adige) – Very soft and round. Appealing apple notes on the finish, but by then it’s too late, as there’s been a general lack of character up to that point. (2/07)

What a fine Fruehmess you’ve made!

Gerard Metz 2004 Pinot Gris Fruehmess “Vieilles Vignes” (Alsace) – Diagonal. Strata of crystal pear and quartz alternate, perhaps dusted with a little bit of freshly-ground coal. A very pressurized wine, tight and a little bit angry, but seemingly without a target. At the least, it’s interesting. (2/08)

Working in a Colmar mine

Schoffit 2004 Pinot Gris Colmar “Tradition” (Alsace) – If this wine had any acidity, it would still be mediocre, but it would taste less silly. The fruit is more peach than pear, more candied than crystalline, and though there’s a shiny polish on the exterior, it’s the sort of thing you drink, forget, drink again, and still can’t remember. (2/08)

Come to an a-gris-ment

[bottle]Peregrine 2004 Pinot Gris (Central Otago) – Ripe and lush, with fine spiced pear and flaky minerality. Round and rich, yet medium-bodied thanks to lingering acidity. The finish is quite lovely. This is probably the best pinot gris we’ve tasted on this trip. (3/05)

Jeanne Trimbach

Trimbach 2000 Pinot Gris “Hommage à Jeanne” (Alsace) – From plots around Hunawihr, Riquewihr, and Mittelwihr, with 19 grams/liter residual sugar. Not as smoky as the previous Hommage bottling from 1996, but there are still highly-appealing charred crystals in the mix, with sweet red cherry and candied strawberry that cohere into a long, juicy palate. Still tight, with plenty of minerality at the core, and the finish firms and binds the wine with more structure than is initially apparent. This is definitely less immediately appealing than the ‘96 Hommage, but I think it will eventually surpass that wine. (5/06)

Personnelle time

Trimbach 2000 Pinot Gris “Réserve Personnelle” (Alsace) – 10 grams/liter of residual sugar. Sulfur and quartz, with a profoundly drying minerality and strong acidity that takes care of any lingering sweetness, all of which is experienced in the initial moments of the wine. Full-bodied pear marks the palate, which is long, crisp, and flecked with little bits of something that feels like either paper or linen. I can’t quite decide which. Maybe both. (5/06)