You know how I feel about pinot grigio at this point. The wine is over produced, most of it is uninteresting at best, and the really good stuff will cost you $20 or more. And with all due respect to Tony Terlato for pioneering the grape in the U.S., I’m not talking about Santa Margherita. I can whine about it all I want but pinot grigio is the biggest selling imported white wine in America so there’s plenty who either don’t care or disagree.
I want to introduce you to vermentino. If you know it already, you know it’s a crisp, clean, hi-toned white wine that usually seeks something rich to help calm its nerves. Over the past several years most of the vermentino I’ve tasted from Tuscany’s coast has been so acidic, tart, and one-dimensional I’ve not even the smallest reason to talk about it. Vermentino is still not close to being my preferred Tuscan white wine (except for Terenzuola’s vermentino which is other worldly) and most producers who produce it sell it impossibly cheap to their local trattorie and osterie who then smilingly dump it on the tourists who pack the coast during the summer.
The 2010 Litorale from the Val delle Rose estate, is a marked improvement over the 2009. Not only does the wine sport a new tidy label, but the wine itself shows more intensity, less sharp edges, and more immediate charm and appeal than the previous 2 vintages I have tasted. It’s all lemon cream, tangerine, and lime blossom with hints of stone and white peach on the finish. The acid is fast and racy and will keep you awake at the table. The 2010 vintage also marks the first time the estate has used only its own fruit to produce the wine. We can take this to mean that the winery has better control over when and how the grapes are harvested which should mean better fruit, hence better wine. The wine has 15% “other complimentary varietals” according the fact sheet I received about the wine and given the growing area I would take that to mean either sauvignon blanc or chardonnay. Given the wine’s texture and weight, I would suspect chardonnay is the addition but it in no way takes away from the headlining vermentino. Although the wine is fermented in stainless steel, it ages in oak barriques for 9-12 months. Based on what I’m tasting these oak barrels are completely neutral as you’ll not get even a whiff of tree. Good on them for that!
The verdict. 86/100 points and almost as interesting as any pinot grigio you’ll find in the $18 price range but most assuredly a better match for grilled fatty fish.
