 Wine
Pinot Grigio for the Summer
by Dennis Sodomka
If you like wine, but take the summer off to drink beer, you are missing some real treats. I love beer and I understand the reasoning behind drinking only beer in the summer, but it would be a shame to pass up the many refreshing wines that are perfect summer drinks.
Chief among those fun summer wines is Pinot Grigio (pronounced PEE-know GREE-gee-oh) or Pinot Gris (PEE-know Gree). You can call it by either name, but it’s the same grape. The differences in the wines are the result of where the grapes are grown and the style of the winemaker.
The grape is a relative of the Pinot Noir grape. It is a red or purple grape, even though it makes white wine. Both Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris mean “gray pinot” and the skins can range from grayish blue to pink.
The Italian version is Pinot Grigio and it’s probably the best known of the two. In fact, it’s the top selling import in the United States. Pinot Gris tends to come from France, Alsace and increasingly from the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
If you order a white wine in a U.S. restaurant, chances are good that it will be a Pinot Grigio. Why? The price is right, it’s an easily approachable wine and it pairs well with food.
“They’re very approachable for parties,” says Brittany Napier, wine manager for Toast Wine and Beverage. “Traditional Pinot Grigios are very popular. They’re good for food pairing or for sitting by the pool.”
Because the wines are so popular in warm months, Toast will feature special pricing on selected Pinot Grigios during the summer.
Italian Pinot Grigio usually is light in color and body. It often has a taste of lemon, orange or melon, with some floral overtones. It goes well with light meals, such as simple pasta dishes, seafood, roast chicken, or for sipping as an aperitif.
Pinot Gris from the Alsace region of France and from Oregon usually is a richer wine, with more acidity and more staying power. California Pinot Grigios tend to be lighter, with less acidity than their Oregon cousins.
“Pinot Gris usually is a serious dinner wine that ages nicely,” says Dick Benjamin, co-owner of Wine World. “The Italians are great shellfish wines.”
“We think the Italian Pinot Grigio is typically crisp, relatively light, but not the deep, silky texture you find in the Oregon or Alsatian Pinot Gris,” adds Sally Benjamin, co-owner of Wine World.
“There are many really inexpensive Pinot Grigios, but people have to be careful,” explains Sally. “The $5 to $6 wines are really not there.”
While there are many tasty, inexpensive Pinot Grigios, you have to taste them before committing to them because the popularity of the wine has brought in new players who don’t always know how to get the most out of the grape.
“Some people in California are making Pinot Grigio that weren’t making it five years ago,” says Dick. “A lot of commercial wineries are making a Pinot Grigio. Some of them are pretty good and some of them are pretty bad.”
The best Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio seems to come from grapes grown at higher elevations where the air is cooler and the vines have to struggle for nourishment.
Italy’s northeast provinces of Friuli and Alto Adige are the traditional home of Pinot Grigio and the best Italian examples tend to come from there. You can get good Italian Pinot Grigio for $15 to $20. As the wine grew in popularity, growers planted Pinot Grigio all over the country, with mixed results. Some of it can be downright nasty.
Oregon has become a prime spot for growing great Pinot Gris, with good examples of the wine running $18 to $20. “Most of the wines I’ve tasted from Oregon are like the Alsatian Pinot Gris—more flinty and mineral flavored,” says Roger Strohl, co-owner of the Vineyard Wine Market. “My favorite is Four Graces Pinot Gris ($16.99), which received 91 points from Wine Enthusiast.”
One of my personal favorites is from Oregon, Stangland Pinot Gris ($17.99), whose winemaker visited Augusta last year. It’s a full-bodied wine, that is refreshing, but has enough acidity and structure to stand up to heavier seafood dishes.
Other favorites include Maso Canali, Fontana Candida, Fetzer Valley Oaks, Five Rivers, Robert Mondavi and especially Buena Vista. One of the best known is Santa Margherita. It’s good, but as it has gotten more popular, the price has gone up to more than $20.
If you haven’t tried Pinot Grigio, this summer is the time. At current prices you can buy several bottles, invite some friends over and compare them as you sit on the porch, toasting the sunset.
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