Wines I'm Drinking: 2010 Montebaldo Garganega/Pinot Grigio

Tonight I tasted the 2010 Montebaldo Garganega/Pinot Grigio, an inexpensive wine I picked up at my local Grocery Outlet. It turned out to be light but tasty--just the sort of thing to go with pasta and pesto sauce. This wine, from the area around Venice,  is 70% Garganega, 30% Pinot Grigio, the latter emphasized on the label, probably on the assumption that fewer people are familiar with Garganega than Pinot Grigio, but Garganega is the grape that makes really good Soave good, and this wine had many of the characteristics of a well made Soave. Brief tasting notes follow.

Medium straw color. Simple grapey scents, but also with a suggestion of something nutty. Perhaps scents of candied citrus rind as well. Overall, a bit distant. Light on the palate as well, but not at all without interest. Nice balance between a ripe but delicate fruitiness and a lingering crisp acidity. Moderate to good length with the finish marked by nutty flavors and a very slight bitterness. In no way profound, but tasty wine nevertheless. Very attractively priced at $4.99 a bottle at Santa Rosa Grocery Outlet. Recommended for everyday drinking. I went back to buy a case of this. Perfect with pesto (as noted above). I bet it'd be good with other pasta dishes not using a tomato sauce (white clam sauce, perhaps?), with herbed fish, or with a simply flavored pork dish.

(I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine.) 

Wines I'm Drinking: 2009 La Ronescina Collio Pinot Grigio

Having not long ago tasted all the Pinot Grigio wines on offer at my local Trader Joe's, I felt it my duty to try this wine, which has appeared since then. This comes from Collio (which means hills) in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in the northeast corner of Italy (the area includes Venice). Most Italian Pinot Grigio comes from this general area, but often the best are from Collio. I liked none of the Pinot Grigio wines from Trader Joe's I tasted before--they were uniformly bland. I had higher hopes for this one. Tasting notes follow.

A typical, very pale straw color, pretty in a well-chilled glass. Melon and sappy scents on the nose. A hint of lime. A suggestion of toasted grain. A little honey perhaps. Overall, fairly fresh and attractive. Quite tart on the palate with some fruity sweetness on the mid-palate followed again by a rush of tartness and then a delicate lingering finish with hints of nuts and an attractive slight bitterness at the very end. A trifle too tart perhaps, but at least this has some flavor and it's clean and refreshing with a little nuance. Likely to be good with foods that need to be offset by something with an acidic bite. Probably excellent as an aperitif on a hot summer night. Not complex or profound, but quite acceptable light summer wine. A cut above nearly all the wines I tasted in the first bunch from Trader Joe's, where this costs $6.99 a bottle.

I have no financial connection with any producer or retailer of wine. 

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