Tag: Pinot Gris

Rosé de Gris

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Maker: Bel Lago, Lake Leelanau, Michigan, USA

Grape: Pinot Gris/Grigio

Style: Rosé

Place of origin: Leelanau Peninsula AVA, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2017

ABV: 13.6%

Price: $8 (Michigan by the Bottle Tasting Room, Royal Oak)

Appearance: Bright, translucent pink.

Nose: Hi-C Fruit Punch, cedar.

Palate: Mild, but full-bodied. Mulberrry, light oak.

Finish: Light and a little chewy.

Parting words: I like it when Michigan wineries make wines that aren’t the usual varietals or styles that every other winery makes. I can’t think of another winery off the top of my head that makes a rosé from Pinot Gris.

This may be obvious, but this wine tastes like a Pinot gris-ish rosé. It’s more subtle than most of the Pinot Noir rosés I’ve had, but a little subtlety can be good in these topsy-turvy times.

OK, sorry about that. I really like this wine. If I have a complaint, and I do, it’s that like the Bel Lago sparkling Auxerrois I reviewed recently, this elegant wine comes in a bottle with a janky label. Bel Lago generally has good-looking, well-designed labels. I’m not sure why these two don’t.

Anyway, 2017 Bel Lago Rosé de Gris is recommended.

Laurentide Pinot Gris, 2013

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Maker: Laurentide Winery, Lake Leelanau, Michigan, USA

20170406_104815
Accidentally put this bottle into the recycle bin before taking this photo!

Grape: Pinot Gris/Grigio

Place of origin: Leelanau Peninsula AVA, Michigan, USA

Style: Semi-dry Gris.

ABV:

Purchased for $20

Thanks to the Laurentide and the retailer who helped me get a replacement for my original tainted bottle.

Appearance: Pale gold with tiny stationary bubbles.

Nose: Mozzarella cheese, toasted pizza crust.

Palate: Medium dry, full bodied. Underripe peach, minerals, oregano, candied lemon peel.

Finish: Clean, slightly tart, then dry

Parting words: After meeting Laurentide co-owner Bill Braymer and his charming daughter Calla at the opening of Michigan by the Bottle Tasting Room, Auburn Hills, I got excited about opening the one bottle of Laurentide wine I had in my cellar, a bottle of the 2013 Pinot Gris. The moment I uncorked it, I realized there was something wrong. One sip confirmed it. Taint. Luckily I was able to get a replacement from the winery along with an assurance that future vintages will use screw caps.

This one was flawless. No, I wasn’t eating pizza when I took these notes, but I felt like I could have been. Mozzarella, pizza crust and oregano sound weird in a wine, I know, but they were all delicate and delicious in this one. There’s enough sweetness and acid to balance those slightly funky pizza notes and create a harmonious beverage.

Nothing not to love about this wine or the Braymers for that matter. Bill impressed me at that tasting room opening. I remember him taking a sip of another winemaker’s product after a few glasses and saying something like, “Something not right about this one. Picked too soon, maybe? No excuse for that in 2012!” A winemaker who can’t shut the critical winemaking part of his brain off even at an event like that is somebody whose wine I want to drink. 2013 Laurentide Pinot Gris is recommended.

 

Left Foot Charley Tale Feathers Pinot Gris, 2011

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Maker: Left Foot Charley, Traverse City, Michigan, USAwp-1488403717038.jpg

Place of origin: Tale Feathers Vineyard, Old Mission Peninsula AVA (western slope), Traverse City, Michigan, USA. For more information on the vineyard, see here.

Vintage: 2011. For more information on the vintage, see image below.

ABV: 12%? (From memory)

Purchased for $19 (Holiday Market)

Appearance: Medium gold.

Nose: Roasted brazil nuts, mineral water, lychee, lavender.

Palate: Medium bodied and medium dry. Nutty brown butter, coconut, oregano.

Finish: White grapefruit fading into herbal tastes.

20170301_162702.jpgParting words: Tale Feathers has partnered with Left Foot Charley for many years now. It’s a small (2 1/2 acre) vineyard in west central part of Old Mission. It’s planted entirely with Pinot Gris. The Wilsons’ focus on that grape has paid off in a big way for them and LFC. Theirs is arguably northern Michigan’s best Gris.

The 2011 vintage was strong for whites in Michigan, though not as strong as 2013. It was still one of the best of the past decade. A lot of its fruit has faded over the past 5+ years, but it remains a beautifully structured wine. I wouldn’t let it go much further than this, though. 2011 Left Foot Charley Tale Feathers Pinot Gris is recommended.

Hawthorne Pinot Grigio, 2012

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Maker: Hawthorne, Traverse City, Michigan, USA20160515_181721-2.jpg

Place of origin: Old Mission Penninsula AVA, Traverse City, Michigan, USA (2013 vintage was made from a mix of estate grapes and grapes from the Rue de Vin vineyard)

ABV: 13.1%

Purchased for $15 (winery)

Appearance: Pale straw

Nose: Mild. Papaya, underripe peach, honeydew melon, butter.

Palate: Rich and buttery. Grilled peaches, mandarin oranges, heirloom apples,

Finish: Bitter, smoky finish. Burnt butter, but in a good way.

Parting words: I don’t think I’ve ever had a Michigan Pinot Gris/Grigio this buttery, certainly not one from Northern Michigan. As you know, dear readers, the butter comes from malolactic fermentation, a secondary fermentation that can happen in wines. It also has the effect of softening out the tartness of a wine. It is commonplace in red wines, but less common in white where it imparts that buttery flavor and aroma most of us associate with California Chardonnay. It is allowed to occur in many warm climate Pinot Grigios too. Traverse City is almost nobody’s idea of a warm climate location but 2012 was a hot year by Michigan standards. Although it can be controlled, malolactic fermentation is more likely to occur naturally in warm conditions so maybe the folks at Hawthorne just decided to allow nature to take its course.

However it happened, the result was good. As in many Chards, the bitter oak and butter complement each other and make it even more food friendly. I’m not sure I would want a steady diet of this style of Grigio, but it’s good for a change of pace. 2012 Hawthorne Pinot Grigio is recommended.

Two Lads Sparkling Pinot Grigio

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Maker: Two Lads, Old Mission Peninsula, Traverse City, Michigan, USA2015-12-29-17.57.18.jpg.jpeg

Grape: 100% Pinot Grigio/Gris

Place of origin: Old Mission Peninsula AVA, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Vintage: NV

ABV: 12.5%

Price: $30 (Michigan by the Bottle Tasting Room)

Note: Pop cap closure.

Appearance: Light gold with big fizz and persistant, quick bubbles.

Nose: Dry. Minerals, lychee, sage.

Palate: Effervescent. Mineral water, Meyer lemon, mandarin orange.

Finish: Dry and flinty. Slightly herbal and smoky.

Mixed: I tried this wine in a mimosa and a Death in the Afternoon (using herbsaint instead of absinthe). It was good in both and would probably work well in other champagne cocktails like a Kir Royale, but it’s so good on its own I’m not sure why anyone would want to use it in cocktails.

Parting words: I was blindly grabbing at bottles in a box behind some wine racks yesterday trying to find a sparkler to pull out for a review today. The first bottle I pulled out was a bottle of mid-range prosecco. Looks OK, I thought, but maybe I have something more interesting in there. I reached back again and pulled this out. “That’s it!” I actually said out loud.

I expected this to be tasty, but not quite this tasty. This wine is dry enough to remind me of brut Champagne, but retails enough sweetness and Pinot Grigio character to make it enjoyable to drink. Bone dry champagne never really turned me on, anyway. This is non-vintage but they also have produced vintages of this in years past. It pairs well with a wide variety of cusine, too.

Two Lads Sparkling Pinot Grigio is a winner. Drink it early in the evening while you can still tell how good it is and appreciate how pretty the conical bottle is. Highly recommended.

Forty-Five North Pinot Gris

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Maker: Forty-Five North, Lake Leelanau, Michigan, USAwpid-2015-06-23-17.07.05.jpg.jpeg

Place of origin: Leelanau & Old Mission Peninsulas (50/50)

Vintage: 2012

ABV: 12.5%

Purchased for $19

Appearance: Bright light gold.

Nose: Bright and mildly fruity. Tart apple, canned pears, crushed mulberry.

Palate: Full bodied and tart. Fresh cut apple, mango, cantaloupe, pinch of lavender.

Finish: Mildly bitter. Limestone and lychee. Fades slowly.

Parting words: Forty-Five North is named after the 45th parallel which runs through Leland and Traverse City, Michigan (and Bordeaux, Piedmont, the Willamette Valley and Upstate New York as Michigan wine folks are fond of pointing out) and the vineyards of winery owners Steve & Lori Grossnickle on Leelanau Peninsula.

While Riesling has reached sublime heights in Northern Michigan, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris/Grigio continue to be underutilized. When they are produced in a good vintage like 2012, they can be very good. This is one of those.

It’s similar in style to other domestic Pinot Gris, falling between the extremes of Veneto crispness and Alsatian buttery fruit. It is food friendly and refreshing without being boring and it even showed up well against the barbecued pork chops I served alongside it last night. $19 is just about right for a Michigan wine of this quality. 2012 Forty-Five North Pinot Gris is recommended.

Chateau Grand Traverse Pinot Grigio

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Maker: Chateau Grand Traverse, Traverse City, Michigan, USAwpid-2014-09-03-17.34.23.jpg.jpeg

Place of origin: Old Mission Peninsula AVA, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2012

ABV:12.5%

Price: $11 (website)

Appearance: Light gold with some necklacing.

Nose: Semi-dry. Underripe pears, Golden Delicious apples, lemon thyme.

Palate: Medium bodied and semi-dry. White peach, pink grapefruit.

Finish: Dry and herbal. Mineral water, sage, a bit of smoke.

Parting words: When I think Pinot Grigio, I think of boring, sorry, “crisp” wines from the Veneto that are pounded back on movie nights and in cheesy restaurants. When I think Pinot Gris (The French name for the same grape, “gray pinot”) I think of the wonderfully smoky and herbaceous made from this grape in Alsace. This wine is somewhere between those camps. When chilled according to bottle directions, it is in the crisp camp but as it warms up, some Alsatian character comes to the fore.

It’s cheap for a wine of this quality and does very well with food. This is a Grigio you can drink and not feel embarrassed or bored by. Chateau Grand Traverse 2012 Pinot Grigio.

Blanck Pinot Gris

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Maker: Domaine Paul Blanck, Kientzheim, Alsace, FranceBlanck Pinot Grisf

Grape: Pinot Gris/Grigio

Place of origin: Alsace, France

Vintage: 2007

ABV: 13.5%

Purchased for: $22 (list price $32)

Appearance: Gold with thick legs.

Nose: Oak, ripe pear, thyme.

On the palate: Full bodied and medium dry. Oak, white cherries, plum, underripe peach, mineral water.

Finish: Mild apple, a whiff of smoke and it slowly fades.

Parting words: What a delicious wine! A nearby wineshop is closing its doors and friend of the blog Amy and I went on an expedidition recently and pooled our purchase so as to get a bigger discount. This is one of my bottles. As long time readers know, I love the white wines of Alsace and their North American cousins, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy something like this at a deep discount.

Blanck is an Alsatian négotiant producing a full line of wines. This one is from their vins de fruits series of varietal wines. They also produce lines of single vineyard, late harvest and borytized wines.

This is classic Alsatian Pinot Gris. It’s rich and aromatic and judicious use of oak provides that little bit of smoke Alsatian Gris is known for. It may have been more fruit forward a few years ago (six years in the bottle is pushing it), but even at this advanced age it’s delicious.

I would be reluctant to spend the full $32 but $25 or less would be an easy buy for me. I will be looking for more Blancks in the future. Blanck Pinot Gris is recommended.

Left Foot Charley Pinot Gris

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Maker: Left Foot Charley, Traverse City, Michigan, USALFC Pinot Gris

Place of origin: Tale Feathers Vineyard, Old Mission Peninsula AVA, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2011

ABV: 13.5%

Purchased for $18

Miscellaneous label info: Tale Feathers is “1.8 acres of sandy loam soils facing due west in the heart of Old Mission Peninsula.” Harvested 10/17/11, 7.8 tons, 23.3 Brix sugar at harvest, TA: 7g/1, Residual Sugar: 3g/1. So there.

Appearance: Pale gold with long broad legs.

Nose: Grapey and semi-sweet. Hardwood smoke, hard apple cider, pear.

On the palate: Full bodied and, again, semi-sweet. Golden Delicious apples, Bartlett pear, plum.

Finish: Medium dry. A touch of cedar and a little peach linger in the mouth.

Parting words: I’ve reviewed wines from Left Foot Charley before, so I’ll spare you a rehash of where this winery is and what they do. Like the other LFC wines I’ve had, this is a very good wine with great varietal and terroir-driven character. It has all the characteristics of fine Pinot Gris from Alsace or elsewhere, but it also has a light, bright (but not tart) character its French cousins often lack. It also lacks the voluptuous mouthfeel of Alsatian whites, but it’s plenty sexy as it is.

This wine does well with the usual white wine fare like poultry and seafood, but has enough depth and complexity to hold one’s attention on its own. It could probably have been fine with another six months to a year in the bottle too, but it’s best not to push things too much with a Gris. The price is reasonable for a vintage varietal that more than delivers on its promises. Left Foot Charley’s 2011 Pinot Gris is recommended.

Arcturos Pinot Gris

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Maker: Black Star Farms, Traverse City, Michigan, USAArc Pinot Gris 2011

Grape: Pinot Gris/Pinto Grigio

Place of origin: Montague, Capella and Montaña Rusa vineyards, Old Mission AVA, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2011

ABV: 12%

Appearance: Golden straw.

Nose: Peach, pear, Golden Delicious apples, paper white narcissus.

On the palate: Crisp and medium dry. More Golden Delicious, stone, apricot, smoke.

Finish: Fairly dry. White grapefruit, smoke, a lingering background sweetness.

Parting words: I’m a big fan of Alsatian Pinot Gris, and I’ve had some good Michigan ones too, so I was eager to get into this bottle. It did not disappoint. It has a great balance of varietal character with some citrus notes, but they are well in check by smoke and minerality. This is firmly in the Alsatian, not Italian, style of making wine with this grape. It’s very food friendly (buttery fish or light vegetarian fare work best) and is affordable for a wine of this quality. The 2011 Arcturos Pinot Gris is recommended.