New Jersey Pinot Grigio

Who doesn’t love Pinot Grigio? This popular grayish grape (Grigio means gray in Italian) is generally dry, light and crisp. It is a terrific alternative to Chardonnay, especially in the summer. Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris are the same thing. How popular is Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio? According to Forbes in 2018, it was the seventh most popular varietal in the United States. When grown in areas other than Italy (especially the Alsace region in France and the western coast of the United States) the term Pinot Gris is more commonly used. Italian Pinot Grigio is great, but if you haven’t tried a New Jersey Pinot Grigio, you don’t know what you’re missing!

I drink a lot of Pinot Grigio in the summer and often enjoy a great Italian Pinot Grigio. I do think there are some that are over-rated and more expensive than some of the Pinot from the Garden State. For instance a bottle of Santa Margarita (one of the most popular Italian Pinots) goes for around $18 at Total Wine. Most of the wines below are no more expensive or even less expensive (and many of these are better, in my opinion).

New Jersey produces some terrific Pinot Grigio. I will share some of my favorites below. As usual, I will only mention those I have tasted recently, as vintages can vary in quality from year to year. However, those mentioned below have been pretty consistent in quality.

Some of my current favorite New Jersey Pinot Grigio are:

• Hawk Haven Signature Series Dry Pinot Grigio-A terrific Pinot that has everything you want in a Pinot Grigio (clean, crisp, light, refreshing)
• Hawk Haven Pinot Grigio-Not quite as dry or complex as the Signature Series version, but still quite good.
• Sharrott Pinot Grigio-Consistently good year after year. Modest price tag.
• William Heritage Pinot Gris – I enjoyed this gem this week with my Ahi Tuna at Bistro di Marino in Collingswood. Along with the Hawk Haven wine mentioned above, actually inspired me to write this post, as it was one of the best I’ve had in a while.
• Tomasello Outer Coastal Plain Pinot Grigio-A very pleasant surprise at my last tasting there.
• Hopewell Valley Vineyards New Jersey Pinot Grigio – Comes with the added bonus of knowing that net proceeds benefit autism intervention, research and services.

Cheers!

Coming Attractions

• Turdo Vineyards & Winery Summer 2019
• Plagido’s Winery Summer 2019
• A Word with the Winemaker (a new series of interviews with the folks who make those great NJ wines).
• A few surprises

You can still purchase the paperback version of New Jersey Uncorked at store.bookbaby.com/book/New-Jersey-Uncorked. Use the code Summer2019 to get $5 off per copy!

You can also still purchase the ebook version at Apple’s iBook app. Use the code Summer2019 to get $2 off. Good on iOS products.

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