Pinot Grigio is often thought to be a simple wine, not a lot of complexity, it’s on every wine list, it’s usually very inexpensive and not going to offend the average wine drinker. It’s 180 degrees of that when you explore Pinot Grigio from Alto Adige Italy. These wines have great structure, depth, complexity, balance, and a since of place. We had our first one last night, and WOW, were we blown away. Pinot Grigio is a grape we don’t drink often, and one we never drink by choice. But when a friend of mine ,Bob Paulinski MW told me to give it a try from Alto Adige, I had to take him up on it. And I’ll start by saying, I had never heard of this region in Italy, I was familiar with Chianti, Brunello, Piedmont, Veneto, Umbria, A’bruzzo and on and on but I had never heard of Alto Adige. This is a region in northern Italy and borders Switzerland and Austria. This being a cooler region the style will be more acidic, less fruity and lower in alcohol. The wines from this region are unique and do not scream Italy. I think if you gave this wine to some experienced wine people blind, they would not get it correct and be surprised to find out it’s Pinot Grigio. And, that’s why I say “KEEP EXPLORING”, you never know what you’re going to find and fall in love with. Alto Adige is one of those regions, if you’ve never had a wine from here, you need to. Turns out Alto Adige also makes some fantastic red wines as well, so this is a region we will be drinking through for a while. Here’s the Pinot Grigio we enjoyed.
