What is your favorite Pinot Grigio?

I am out to buy a Pinot Grigio. Please post a good one that is cost effective. I've had it before and I think its my favorite white wine. I don't like Chardonnay because its too bitey. Looking to find a pinot that is easily obtainable.

I am not a fan of Pinot Grigio at all. In fact, it is the antithesis of my favorite wines, but to each his own (I like my wines "bitey"). Therefore, I do not have a favorite Pinot Grigio, however, I have found that the Santa Margherita brand is completely over-rated and over-priced. I have noticed that it is currently being heavily pushed by local super markets and can be found on sale at Dominicks and Jewel, but even at the sale price, I think there are Pinot Grigios that are much better for a lower price.

The "biteyness" that you find objectionable in Chardonnays, is likey caused by the oak barrels in which the wine is aged. Instead, you might try an un-oaked Chablis, which uses the same Chardonnay grapes, but is not aged in oak, so the wine does not have the bite produced by the tannic acid found in the oak barrels. If you like lighter, white wines you might also try a Grüner Veltliner or even a Viognier for an easily drinkable white wine with a little more dimension to the flavor.

At any rate, I was recently faced with a situation where I was specifically asked to purchase a Pinot Grigio for a friend. I asked one of the wine consultants at the Binny's in Niles (on Milwaukee) for some help and was directed to some excellent examples of the variety at sub $15 prices. Unfortunately, I do not recall the specifics of the bottles. If I see them, however, I will likely recognize them. I will keep an eye out for you. If you live near that Binney's you might give it a try. The store seemed well stocked with the variatel and the employee, with whom I spoke, was quite knowledgeable about the available choices.

Same varietal - different name...Sineann Pinot Gris 2010. It should be in stores by now. I had a tasting at the winery just last month and really enjoyed its laser-like citrus note. Since then, we've enjoyed it with crab cakes and crab legs and it's been dead-on. At $18 it's not inexpensive but really darn good and I'm not a big fan of the varietal.

Davooda

Pinot Grigio . . . sigh. It's a much maligned and misunderstood wine. Unfortunately, most PGs that are widely available in grocery and drug stores are undrinkable, and have become a bland substitute for white zinfandel for most wine drinkers, or an entre to white wines, along with overly oaked, buttery cheap California chardonnay.

First, there does exist really nice, crisp Pinot Grigios from Italy's Alto Adige or even Friuli-Venezia Giulia region; go to a wine shop and they will recommend some. (I don't know what you mean by "biteyness," but I would consider the crisp acidity of a good quality pinot grigio to be a little "bitey." A chardonnay is not "bitey" to me.) Also look for Pinot Gris (as Davooda points out), especially from Alsace, it's same varietal, but comes from different regions. Second, there are many, many different white wines out there besides Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. I encourage you to take advantage of the many free wine tastings at Whole Foods, Binny's, etc., to introduce you with low risk to those wines. One white that I find many occasional wine drinkers to enjoy -- not a PG or Chardonnay -- is Naia Verdejo from Spain. It is under $15/bottle, sometimes under $10, and widely available.

I do like the PG from OR and the Naia is a case buy for us when it gets down to $12 or so...

I'm liking Cupcake Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon blanc. Cost $9.99 at Dominick's, more savings if you buy six. Just purchased some yesterday.

I think the wine tasting is a good idea but I never see any wine tasting at my whole foods. I wish there was a place to go to taste many different wines even if we had to pay for it.

toria wrote:I think the wine tasting is a good idea but I never see any wine tasting at my whole foods. I wish there was a place to go to taste many different wines even if we had to pay for it.

Just Grapes, which is downtown on Washington west of Clinton, has exactly that.

toria wrote:I think the wine tasting is a good idea but I never see any wine tasting at my whole foods.

I know some wine reps who post on this board who would have a heart attack if they read that. Subscribe to Binny's email -- that's a start -- they do regular tastings for free. I'd also subscribe to Lush, which holds free tastings at least once a week. The Whole Foods on Kingsbury has someone there tasting wine almost every time I'm there. Glunz has free tastings every Sunday afternoon. Almost every wine store I know has an email subscription, and will give you information about tastings via those.

If you're willing to pay for tastings, simply belly up to Webster's wine bar or the Tasting Room, sit down at the bar, and order a flight.

toria wrote:I think the wine tasting is a good idea but I never see any wine tasting at my whole foods. I wish there was a place to go to taste many different wines even if we had to pay for it.

The Wine Discount Centers all do regular wine tastings on Saturday afternoons. We recently were at Schaefer's in Skokie and pretty much every wine in their back room was available to taste. Bought more wine because of that. As aschie suggested, many wine bars have flights available where you can try different wines.

Wine Discount Center
Chicago, Highland Park, Barrington, and in the Famous Liquors in Forest Park
http://www.winediscountcenter.com/

Schaefer's
9965 Gross Point Rd. Skokie, Illinois 60076
Telephone 847-677-WINE (9463)
http://www.schaefers.com/

Here are a few PG's rec'd by a friend and available at Binny's. I believe the Colterenzio was one that we bought and found to be remarkably tasty. I think Aschie30 is right about the varietal being much maligned. Thanks to supermarket promotions (like those by Santa Margherita), it has become synonymous with flavorless. A wine for those people who don't really like wine. I know there are some examples out there which are more flavorful than the supermarket specials would lead you to believe.

Alois Lageder Pinot Grigio $12.99/750ML
Colterenzio Pinot Grigio $12.99/750ML
Zenato Pinot Grigio $9.99/750ML

I agree about Santa Margherita being overpriced - another example (along with that link to the vodka article posted recently) of marketers determined to set a price point for a product irrespective of the product's actual value.

I do like chardonnay, and sometimes I find a really buttery, oaky chardonnay is exactly the kind of "comfort food" I want in a white wine. But others in my family want ABC (anything but chardonnay), and it seems to me that pretty much any pinot grigio (even the inexpensive Bolla) makes them happy.

In general, I think almost any type of wine you can get from California or elsewhere on the west coast of the US, you can get just as good or better from Australia or South America, due to lower land and labor prices. I'll come back with some specific labels to suggest.

Thanks to all for your recs.

As much as I hate to say this, the Two Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's is not so bad. I'm not a fan of TBC, but the other day I realized i had never tried the PG, so I gave it a try. It was fairly decent and for $3, it is worth a try (at least for home use). TJ's has several other PG for <$10 which are also worth a try.