Oeno Files

"Drive-by" suggests short reviews -- get-in, get-out, take-no-prisoners, just-the-facts-mame -- although I do reserve the option to tell a story, provide some context, have fun.

Let me start down-market with Pinot Grigio and with a story. My sense is that most folks understand that pinot grigio is some watery, forgettable plonk, and they might know it as some forgettable plonk from the northeast of Italy. My own experience with pinot grigio started in northeastern Italy. In Venice. As a graduate student, I spent four summers visiting the archives in Venice. I didn't know anything about the local wine, but I was interested to see that local shops would sell wine fresco. You just walk in there with your own bottle, and they will dispense it from large glass casks for (what was then) about a $1.35. I sampled everything: the always watery tocai, the very robusto refosco, and other wines. Most of the stuff was fresh and light, and, for me, fresh and light on a humid evening was just fine.

I found myself favoring the pinot grigio, and it really was grigio ("gray"). It had a hint of color, or, at least, a shadow of something.

Not so the stuff I would find in shops here. After I moved to Washington, DC, I was pleased to find pinot grigio on the shelves of any half-interesting wine shop, but my pleasure ended there. All the Italian stuff was just headache-inducing plonk that would run for $10 or more. Since then, however, I've discovered, like many folks, that some stuff comes out of Oregon. So, at last ...

... The Take-no-prisoners account:

Adelsheim Pinot Gris (Willamette Valley, Oregon): Expensive and miserable and forgettable but for the "expensive and miserable" part. I'd be annoyed to pay $10 for a bottle. I was more annoyed to have experimented with a purchase more like $20. Subsequently, a fellow at the Calvert Woodley (Washington, DC) suggested trying it, because "Everyone talks about it," but I had already had my independent (and unfortunate) experience. Thinking about it gives me headache.

Elk Cove Pinot Gris (Willamette Valley, Oregon): I've seen it priced in Washington for something approaching $20. If one is going to spend $20 on a pinot grigio/gris, I'd go with Elk Cove. Schneider's (Washington, DC) used to carry it a few years ago, but since then I've only stumbled upon it at the Calvert Woodley.

Beringer Pinot Grigio: $6! At Safeway! And it's not bad! You can definitely use a little bit of it in your risotto and enjoy sipping it with your friends in the kitchen while you're trading duties stirring the pot ...