I am not friends with pinot grigio.  Not because I drank too much at a wedding once but because what I have found, especially by the glass, is mundane.  It lacks imagination. I want a varietal with crisp acidity and a lovely personality. For example, one of my favorites, Picpoul, a Southern Rhone (France) varietal, tastes like a more mature pinot grigio. Picpoul has bright acidity, minerality, an upbeat freshness, citrus, and apricots on the palate.  It is a delightful summer wine.

I do understand that a very large part of the population for some reason enjoys  it….or just orders it because they are afraid to ask questions.  When I experience someone say “Oh, I will just have a glass of pinot grigio” I want to literally scream.  JUST READ THE WINE BY THE GLASS LIST AND SEE WHAT ELSE MIGHT BE OUT THERE!!!!!  (That is my inner sommelier scream)

Wine professionals spend hours, days, weeks and even months designing a wine list. They meet with suppliers, smell wine, drink wine, spit wine, have purple teeth by the time “normal” people are stopping by for happy hour.  They deal with pricing and then once they decide on a wine to offer by the glass, they start to pray that the winery or the state actually has enough to supply a wine by the glass program.  I believe a lot of other wine professionals feel the same way I do about pinot grigio, they are just far too polite to say so on a public forum.

So the next time you are going to just order the same glass of wine you always order, think of that purple toothed wine person who sweat blood to design a list with something for everyone.  And just read it.. Maybe you will find a glass of picpoul or gruner veltliner (Austrian wine that tastes like sauvignon blanc and reisling had a baby).

Cheers!

J Mac