When pinot grigio, that dry, neutral, inoffensive Italian white, blasted on to the scene in the late 1990s, it made a frankly welcome change from fat, sweet, oaky, alcoholic chardonnay and rapidly became the darling of the white wine world, with sales doubling from year to year throughout the early Noughties. And why not, you might ask? Except that back then most pinot grigio was dull, thin, acidic, swimming pool-scented stuff, one of many bland, boring Italian whites such as frascati, soave and orvieto. British drinkers wanted magnolia paint on their walls and pinot grigio in their wine glasses: dear, oh dear.
But now something wonderful has happened. Bold print wallpaper is back, and Italian wine producers, having doubled their acreage of pinot grigio vineyards from l990 to 2000, have suddenly started to treat the grape seriously. Pinot grigio has found itself planted out in superior single vineyard sites, yields have been cut and fuller-bodied, fuller-flavoured wines are the result. The best pinot grigio wines come from the cooler northeast corner of Italy with Friuli making the most impressive examples and neighbouring Alto Adige renowned for its scented offerings. To the south, the Veneto’s vast co-operatives continue to spew out rivers of dull, watery pinot grigio, both white and, horrid thought, pink, but even here quality has risen a notch or two as producers realise what their Alto Adige and Friuli competitors are doing. The gentle, leafy, lemony spice of 2008 Italia Pinot Grigio from Pavia in the Veneto is a good example (Waitrose, £5.99), or try the finer, verdant, nutty Veneto fruit of Alois Lageder’s 2008 Riff Pinot Grigio (Asda, down to £4.98).
Outside Italy the grape is also starting to make a modish name for itself, but confusingly goes under two different names: pinot grigio when it is used to deliver a lively, lean, aperitif-suitable, easy-glugging white in the Italian mould, and pinot gris, which is richer, spicier, more full-bodied and best drunk with food. Alsace has long grown the grape and in this cool, northeast corner of France, fat, perfumed pinot gris is the norm. Go for the Turckheim co-operative’s 2007 Finest Alsace Pinot Gris (Tesco, £7.09) a cracker of a white with lots of exotic, heady, soft, ripe, spicy, lychee-like fruit that would be great with a meaty terrine, or charcuterie.
Farther afield, I have tasted gorgeous, seductively spiced editions in Oregon and California has also been caught up in a pinot gris planting frenzy, though we see few of either over here. The Antipodes has made some fine bottles too and Montana’s ripe, appley 2008 Pinot Grigio (Tesco, £7.09) is a good summer swigger and typical of its Kiwi ilk, while in Australia the Clare Valley genius Tim Adams has produced a delicious fine, fat, peach and apple-laden 2008 Pinot Gris (Wine Rack, £15.99 or buy three for £10.66 each).
This week’s best buys
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2008 Marsanne, Vin de Pays d’ Oc, Foncalieu, France Asda, £3.28. Gorgeous ripe, grapey, unoaked marsanne, better known as one of the Rhône’s top white varieties, and an Asda steal.
2008 Valpolicella, Veneto, Italy Asda, £3.47.
No longer a thin, rotten, banana-scented red, this juicy summer wine oozes with lively, plum and bitter cherry-scented fruit.
2008 Chenin-Colombard, Domaine Maurel, Vin de Pays d’Oc, France Wine Rack £8.99 or buy three for £5.99 each.
A sensational, verdant, gooseberry and rhubarb-spiked southern French blend that needs fish or fowl, in a rich, creamy, finest herbes sauce to show at its best.
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2005 Château Laucaussade St Martin les Côtes Bordeaux, France Wine Rack £11.99, or £7.99 when you buy three.
2005 was a genuinely great vintage, which explains why this seductive, ripe, plummy, vibrant, oaky claret, which comes from a satellite area, is as good as it is.
The keeper
2006 Fortnum’s English Sparkling Wine, Camel Valley, Cornwall, Bob Lindo Fortnum & Mason (020- 7734 8040) down to £19.98 until end July.
Pick up this elegant eau de nil-labelled fizz with an even more elegant rich, nutty, lemon blossom-stashed fizz within for the same price as the non-vintage version at Waitrose. Bob Lindo’s English bubbly is perfect now but give this a few years and fatter, fuller, floral, toasty flavours will develop. Drink now until 2012.