Pinot Gris - where is it best?

Oregon. Try the current release King Estate Reserve, or even the regular King Estate.

I happen to live in the vicinity of California/Oregon/Washington, so that tends to be where I find my favorite wines.

-- Robert

Oregon? Seems everybody there makes at least one Pinot Noir and at least one Pinot Gris. It's been a few years since I was up there, and I was concentrating on PN at the time, but I remember buying a few bottles of Lange PG, and a couple of assorted others.

Don't have much experience with Alsatian PG, so can't comment much on comparisons, but have had a number of Oregon PG's. The King Estate is decent. My favorite is the WillaKenzie Estate PG. Big, rich, chock full of character. The St. Innocent ("Vitae Spring") is well-regarded, though it's not quite my style. A bit more austere. Unfortunately, I suspect they're not available in your area.

-- Regards,

- Roy

=*=*Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

- Mark Twain The truth is rarely pure, and never simple. - Oscar Wilde

There's a ton of insipid PG grown in Italy, but the best from Friuli, Alto Adige, and other northern areas are pretty close to the best overall.

While I enjoy dry Alsatian Pinot Gris (Trimbach's basic is always a good deal), the best PG from Alsace to me are the dessert wines- ZH Clos Jebsal SGN, for instance.

The St. Innocent is my favorite Oregon to date. Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Although I haven't had it, I'm not at all surprised that it was good. Their Sauvignons are among the best made in NZ.

On the basis of my 2001 visit there, it would not appear that much PG is made there. Perhaps that may be changing, though...

Mark Lipton

You have hit the nail on the head, Ian.

Pinot Gris is NZs 4th most widely planted white variety (after Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Riesling), but little would be exported.

It is the "vogue" choice among the wine-drinking ABC (anything but chardonnay) set in NZ right now.

It suffers from a diverse range of styles, making choice a bit of a minefield.

Just today I had a pinot gris from Tscheppe (ried possnitzberg, 2002) which was wonderful. I would recommend it highly. They are from the Styrian region of Austria, where many of the vintners are making great wines with this varietal.