Friday, December 18, 2009

Estancia 2008 Pinot Grigio (California)

I have to tell you, it is nice to be in a country that takes its wine culture and wineries seriously. I am in Michigan for the holidays visiting my fiancee and her family (more the former than the latter of course). Each time I wonder into a wine store, supermarket, or froo-froo market (upscale fancy fruit market) I am confronted by a wine section, and inevitably I have to walk through it to check it out. Rows upon rows of US-based wines, mostly California, but I've seen New York, Michigan, Oregon and Washington wines as well - foreign wines are relegated to back shelves and hidden corners - domestic wines are pominantly displayed ... since I have been here (for about a week now) I have bought about 10 bottles of wine, only one has been from outside the US borders (Chile). Being from Canada (Ontario) this is unheard of because the LCBO puts the foreign wines in dominant locales while shunting the Ontario/Canadian wine into some out of the way corner. Of course this is all just pre-amble to what I had tonight, a Pinot Grigio from California. Now I am going to start by saying this wine is misidentified as a Grigio. To me, Grigio is a style, not just a name, wineries use it becuase it has become popular and easy to identify. Grigio is crisp and citrus in nature, while Gris is white fruit juicy ... This wine was very white fruit juicy giving up smells of apples and pears; the palate was also full of white fruit juiciness: mac apples, bosc pears all with a slightly tart-sweet finish, think a lemonade sweetness with a hint of tartness. Very nice wine, but to me not a Grigio.

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