By Matthew Debord
HQ 93 | SPRING 2016
The world is full of white wine. You can choose from Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, a wide assortment of offbeat Spanish and Italian styles, white Bordeaux, as well as Rieslings from both the New World and from Europe.
In fact, there’s so much white wine out there that it can be a bit daunting to make a good choice at restaurants and for lunch or dinner. And I haven’t even gotten into Champagne and sparkling wines.
So you need a default white – one that will never let you down.
Chardonnay would seem like a logical candidate because it’s everywhere. But Chardonnay isn’t always the most food-friendly wine, due to its typically rich, oaky, buttery nature (“un-oaked” Chards are a different story, but they’re not that easy to find).
Sauvignon Blanc’s popularity has surged in recent years, but its flavor profile is quite aggressive: very fruity in the California version, blisteringly citrusy when it hails from New Zealand.
Riesling has kind of fallen off wine lovers’ radars; the sweetness can be off-putting.
And the rest of the globe’s whites are rather obscure, drunk more on a regional basis.
So what’s a wine drinker to do?
Easy: order Pinot Grigio.
This is an Italian white made mainly in the northern part of the country, and it’s the prototypical quaffer that’s gone upscale. For Italians, Pinot Grigio is just what you drink with lunch, no questions asked. For the rest of the world, and especially the United States, Pinot Grigio is the No. 1, go-to alternative to Chardonnay.
The Italians know what they’re doing when it comes to creating wines that are meant to be enjoyed with food. Pinot Grigios tend to have gentle fruit flavors, smell of flowers and deliver lightly nutty, bitter tones on the palate. Italians love a bit of bitter in their wines, and that makes sense: bitter cleanses the palate between bites and provides a pleasing counterpoint to lots of different dishes, ranging from pasta to meats to fish.
By and large, Pinot Grigio is produced on an industrial level in Italy. But a few Pinot Grigios have broken out and defined themselves for elevated quality. So you have two obvious ways to go with this wine: spend a little and don’t worry about the label, because it’s all pretty much the same; or spend more and focus on one of the very few quality producers.
Personally, I don’t think the spend/quality route is really worth it. However, you do owe yourself a taste of some of the truly good stuff, so look for the most successful Pinot Grigio export of them all, Santa Margherita. A bottle retails for about $20.
Otherwise, just pick up something that says “Pinot Grigio” on the label and don’t sweat the decision. There are many, many bottlings available in stores in the U.S. that cost $10 and less and that come with screw caps instead of corks. The whole point of this genre of decent, inexpensive, Italian food-oriented wine is to get you drinking more with meals. It’s an ideal introduction to the European way of life.
Generally speaking, when I drink Pinot Grigio, I like to stick to Italian dishes. Clearly, if you’re having a red-sauce pasta, you don’t want to go with the Pinot Grigio. But if you’re having, say, spaghetti with a butter-cheese sauce, it’s perfect. It goes well with fish and shellfish, as long as there isn’t a whole lot of citrus in the sauce or marinade. And grilled pork and Pinot Grigio are nice companions – once again, as long as the meat is prepared simply.
On top of all this, Pinot Grigio is a pretty awesome gateway to the rest of Italian wine, which can be confusing. This is because the whole premise of drinking wine in Italy is to drink it with friends, family and food. Italians don’t take wine as a cocktail, although they will start a meal sometimes with a glass of Prosecco, a sparkling wine. More often, they might have a cocktail, perhaps something made with white vermouth or a Campari and soda.
Pinot Grigio is designed to pair with food, as are all other Italian wines. California wines aren’t: some big, juicy Cabernet Sauvignons and Zinfandels are events in and of themselves. It’s hard to find anything robust enough to stand up to their flavor profiles.
Pinot Grigio, by contrast, is happy to play a supporting role. Always remember this about Italian food and wine: it’s like an electric guitar and an amplifier – the two instruments complete each other. And best of all, if you learn to enjoy Pinot Grigio, you’ll never be at a loss for a white wine choice again.
Finally, as we head into spring and summer, we’re entering ideal Pinot Grigio weather. Just remember that you shouldn’t overchill the wine. It doesn’t want to be ice cold. If you have kept a bottle in the fridge, allow it to warm up a bit before sitting down to dine.
