A Nice Pinot Grigio

Last week there were more dinner parties with more visitors from the south. The folks from Ontario (who have unfortunately returned to the heat, humidity and smog of southern Ontario) brought a nice Italian Pinot Grigio, the Santepietre Pinot Grigio by Lamberti, a dry white wine. It retails here for $15.10 and I think is quite well worth it. Note that when I say worth it, I mean worth it because that is what you have to pay for it in the Yukon. I would expect a few dollars to be knocked off the price in other jurisdictions. Back to the wine...the Santepietre Pinot Grigio was very light, a bit minerally (that is a good thing), and had nice flavours of citrus and stone fruit (ie. peach, apricot, nectarine etc.). It is a very nice summer wine and I think I might be buying a bottle or two in the future. Serve chilled.

For a red they had brought the Wolf Blass Teal Label Cabernet Merlot ($16.45). It was a good barbecue wine with very bright berry/cherry flavour, bordering on too fruity. Nice to drink, but not a fancy dinner wine.

The next night we had another Pinot Grigio from Folonari ($14.45). It was pleasant enough but had a bit of a cheap white taste to it and seemed a little sweeter, not in a good way. For an extra sixty-five cents, I'd go with the Santepietre. We also had the Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon ($19.65). It is a very popular wine and is such a textbook Cabernet Sauvignon that it is kind of boring. You've got your black current ('cassis' if you're being snobby) flavour, good tannins, dark red colour, not much fruitiness - a very assertive wine, good with full flavoured foods and red meat. Good, but kind of boring. I think I liked the Angus the Bull better, which is about $3 more. Heck, try them both side by side and decide.

A note about Pinot Grigio...In France the grape is called Pinot Gris or 'grey pinot' and the grapes really are a rather interesting and possibly off-putting greyish pink. The wine can often be identified by a slight copper tint when held up to the light, resulting from the pigment in the skin of the grapes. It is usually a lighter white, with nice acidity and it doesn't have any overpowering aromas so it is good with food. Pinot Gris is a mutation of Pinot Noir, a red variety. Don't let the word 'mutation' put you off, no nasty scientific experiments here. Grapes are highly mutagenic and although mutations are often not beneficial, some are beneficial and will then be selected for propagation. One of my wine books tells me that all non-red grapes are mutations somewhere along the line as ancient grape varieties are dark skinned. Interesting!