Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/14611
VARIETAL VIBE cooperatives like St. Michael-Eppan and Erste + Neure produce lower-yield Pinot Grigio from high-altitude plant- ings. In Fruili, independent producers like Felluga, Pecorai and Ronco del Gnemiz are credited with the signature wines of the region. New World Affinity California grows more Pinot Gris than any country in the world, almost universally labeled Pinot Grigio by producers. At Estancia, on the Central Coast, this varietal made up 18 percent of the winery’s 850,000-case production in 2009. “We’ve seen steady growth in Pinot Grigio since 2001, and it’s second only to Chardonnay for our white wines,” says Estancia winemaker Scott Kelley. His version delivers richer pear and melon fruit with greater concentration from long, cold, slow fermentations and plenty of lees contact. Todd Zeiman, Director of Winemaking at Mondavi’s Woodbridge Winery in Lodi, which produces 400,000 cases annually, says, “Demand for the variety is growing faster than we can bring it into production. The Pinot Grigio style is Oregon Pinot Gris at Adelsheim Vineyard D avid Adelsheim first planted Pinot Gris at his Willamette Valley winery in 1976, making him the third-oldest producer of Pinot Gris in the New World. “People used to ask us whether we made this varietal in the style of Alsace or in the style of Italy,” says Adelsheim. “The answer finally became: ‘Neither. It’s made in an Oregon style.’” Adelsheim loves to talk Pinot Gris. “Suppose you have three glasses before you: a Pinot Gris from Alsace, a Pinot Grigio from Italy and a Pinot Gris from Oregon,” Adelsheim hypothesizes. “The Alsatian wine would be much more minerally, earthy and terroir-driven and much less about fruit. The Italian Pinot Grigio would have some fruit, but it would be muted; unless from one of the very top producers in Alto Adige or Collio, it would have a watery quality. The Oregon version would almost inevitably be dry; it would have wonderful acidity and freshness, quite intense fruit, substantive body, with no oak and no malolactic, and would have you screaming for shellfish.” The style of the winery’s Pinot Gris has evolved, Adelsheim notes, “finding its soul” after the arrival of winemaker Dave Paige in 2001. “Dave had a very quick learning path to getting our Pinot Gris to be an archetype of this varietal in Oregon.” The Adelsheim Vineyard 2008 Pinot Gris has an SRP of $19. www.adelsheim.com David Adelsheim. august 2010 / the tasting panel / 75 a good fit with Lodi fruit and with our focus on lower-alcohol wine; it’s crisp, easy-drinking wine with limey-citrusy flavors and is under 12 percent alcohol.” Down Under Pinot Gris was introduced to Australia in 1832. The country grows twice as much of it as neighboring New Zealand, with the majority concentrated in the cooler southern regions of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and Tasmania. Robert Oatley Vineyards in Mudgee, New South Wales, sources fruit from south of Adelaide and Victoria’s Alpine Valleys for a benchmark medium-bodied, crisp Pinot Grigio with spicy aromas. New Zealand produces a wide range of Pinot Gris styles, with the southerly regions of Central Otago, Canterbury and Marlborough showing a rich, flinty, fruit-laden style. Northerly regions of Auckland, Northland and Gisborne pro- duce more Pinot Gris than the country’s signature Sauvignon Blanc; well-known Sauvignon Blanc producers like Cloudy Bay, Nobilio and Kim Crawford all produce Pinot Gris. PHOTO COURTESY OF ADELSHEIM VINEYARDS