Pinot Gris - where is it best?

Austrian pinot gris, of course. If you can find Josef Lentsch's, give him a try.

Szürkebarat.

M.

Nils, To me, this is a near-impossible question because of the variability in styles. In Alsace, you have the "blockbuster" style PGs: highly extracted, rich, usually off-dry to sweet; in Italy, you have two different styles: the (more common) light, crisp, bone-dry version found throughout the North and a richer style epitomized by Livio Felluga's PG. Then again, you have the PGs of Oregon: medium-rich, dry, often lightly oaked (I've recently had a similar PG from NZ). I've even had one good PG from California! ;-) How to choose among such riches?

Mark Lipton (holding a collection of PGs in reserve for a comparitive tasting -- coming to the US any time soon?)

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

This one is quite delicious:

I'm surprised that NZ does not produce more PG, given their proven expertise with some of the other cool-climate classics. Perhaps they do, but just don't want to export it. Unsurprisingly, that doyen of weird varieties Brown Brothers produces some excellent PG in Oz. Regards, Ian

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

Never came across the latter, will look for it in my favorite shop in Copenhagen where they have a very good assortment of Italian wines (due, in part, to one of their sommeliers who has worked several years in Italy and speaks better Italian than I do, which, OTOH, is not a great achievement). I don´t know Livio Felluga - where is he based?

Toniught,. we had a Pinot Gris from our friend Dirler in Bergholtz which was stupendous - not at all like those we buy at Francois Baur, our 'general provider', much more acidity and even elegance.

He he - my colleagues are, even as we speak, in New Yawk, there to attend the APA conference, and, presumably, also have a good look at the Big APple. Me however, well, apart from the yearly tour to Alpes-Maritimes, we have no such plans - so sorry, but ´we´ll most likely visit the Salone del Gusto in Torino, late October - admittedly, that is a long way from the USA ... ;) you could come over here and help us clean out the cellar ;)))) - we could even offer either a vertical or a (small) horizontal of Gewurz, or same of Bandol ...OTOH, as for Bandol, my possibilities are of course only a shadow of those Mike T could put up ... As for going to the US, there are two things that attract me - one being CHristina voicing such a request, the other a standing inivitation by good guy Dale - your PG tasting now adds a third! Oh well, we´ll just have to see, don´t we?

Cheers

Nils Gustaf

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.

Mark beat me to it, but I would have responded to the original question in much the same manner. PG is one of those grapes that is commercially important in only a (relatively) few places in the world. (At least that's my sense from perusing wine shops in the USA's Pacific Northwest.) Of the three that I have some familiarity with (Oregon, Alsace, and northern Italy), I would be hard pressed to choose "the best" from among the best of what each region has to offer. As Mark points out, the styles are very different and there is no reason why one should have to make such a choice.

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