MIKE RICCETTI
  • The best of Houston dining
    • Guinness pours
    • Banh mi
    • Breakfast tacos
    • Chicken Fried Steak
    • French
    • French Fries
    • Fried Chicken
    • Greek
    • Italian
    • Italian-American
    • Mexican
    • Midtown Dining
    • Pizzerias
    • Pizza at Non-Pizzerias
    • Rice Village Dining
    • Sandwiches
    • Seafood
    • To Take Visitors
    • Wine Bars
    • Wine Lists
  • The margherita pizza project
  • The martini project
  • Musings on Houston Dining
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2022
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2021
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2019
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2018
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2017
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2016
    • The dozen best Inner Loop values
    • Dining recommendations for visitors to Houston
  • Italian restaurant history
  • Italian & Italian-American
  • Entertaining tips
    • Booze basics
    • Styles of Cheeses
    • Handling Those Disruptive Guests
  • Wine
  • Beer
  • Cocktails and Spirits
  • Miscellaneous
  • Blog
  • The best of Houston dining
    • Guinness pours
    • Banh mi
    • Breakfast tacos
    • Chicken Fried Steak
    • French
    • French Fries
    • Fried Chicken
    • Greek
    • Italian
    • Italian-American
    • Mexican
    • Midtown Dining
    • Pizzerias
    • Pizza at Non-Pizzerias
    • Rice Village Dining
    • Sandwiches
    • Seafood
    • To Take Visitors
    • Wine Bars
    • Wine Lists
  • The margherita pizza project
  • The martini project
  • Musings on Houston Dining
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2022
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2021
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2019
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2018
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2017
    • The top 10 new restaurants of 2016
    • The dozen best Inner Loop values
    • Dining recommendations for visitors to Houston
  • Italian restaurant history
  • Italian & Italian-American
  • Entertaining tips
    • Booze basics
    • Styles of Cheeses
    • Handling Those Disruptive Guests
  • Wine
  • Beer
  • Cocktails and Spirits
  • Miscellaneous
  • Blog
MIKE RICCETTI

Mostly food and drink...

...and mostly set in Houston

If you are going to drink Pinot Grigio, look to Friuli

5/25/2020

0 Comments

 
​To be honest, I often feel embarrassed to order Pinot Grigio at most restaurants or even to pick a bottle at the wine shop, if a little less so at the supermarket – especially if I have a bag of Cheetos in tow.  I don’t feel compelled to do so very often, but that there might be others to appease and a constrained budget to adhere to.
 
Pinot Grigio doesn’t have a great reputation among many serious wine drinkers.  I never see it on lists at my favorite local wine bars, for example.  Much, too much Pinot Grigio is bland and fairly dull.  But, that inoffensiveness along with is ubiquity and affordability have helped make it popular.  And it is popular.  Pinot Grigio is the most exported varietal wine from Italy, with a huge amount of it coming to this country.  Just those from the Delle Venezie DOC – which covers a huge amount of territory in northeastern Italy and are sure to be in your supermarket – sold over 220 million bottles just of Pinot Grigio last year. 
 
There are Pinot Grigios I do like, and those are usually from Friuli – the Italian region abutting Slovenia and Croatia in the northeast of the country.  When shopping or Pinot Grigio in the past decade or so, I have almost always looked for “Friuli” on the label, the front of the label.  If not Friuli, "Collio" is another one, a small area in Friuili.  In the current issue of the Wine Spectator, longtime Italian-focused editor Alison Napjus mentioned she also enjoyed the Pinot Grigios from Friuli, which she’s found to work well with shellfish and grilled seafood, in addition to its expected easy sippability.  Pinot Grigio from Friuli is typically richer and more flavorful often with pleasant notes of nectarine and melon, and having more apparent acidity while still usually light and quite approachable.  These can be enjoyable with lighter seafood preparations and even more so for me, can work very well as an aperitivo.  
 
A few labels from Friuli for Pinot Grigio you might want to look for here include Attems, Gradis’ciutta, Jermann, Pighin, Radikon and Vistorta.  I am not at all self-conscious purchasing wines like these.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Mike Riccetti is a longtime Houston-based food writer and former editor for Zagat, and not incidentally the author of three editions of Houston Dining on the Cheap.

    Picture

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All
    Beer
    Cocktails
    Italian
    Margherita Pizzas
    Recipes
    Restaurants
    Wine

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.