WTN: Orange Pinot Grigio

2006 Az. Ag. Franco Terpin Pinot Grigio "Sialis" Venezie IGT
14% abv; a Pinot Grigio fermented with skins. It is aged for 12 months in oak and a further 12 in acacia. Sialis is Terpin's selection that he makes only in the best years. Due to skin contact, this looks alarmingly like Irn-Bru. From the scent it is easy to understand what I read in Jancis Robinson's new book on grape varieties that PG and Pinot Noir are the same grape variety since this smells like a grand old red Burgundy. The fruit can only be described as Pinosity; it has rye bread and other such scents associated with age; but then the fruit on the palate still seems vibrant and sexy just like in a good red Burgundy. But it is fairly low in acidity and I do find a touch of heat on the finish. But somehow it still stays together and is actually quite moreish. Exciting stuff. (NB! Pharmacists don't recommended using Sialis with grapefruit .)

Interesting, Otto.

Copain Winery in Sonoma County (although their grape sources primarily are in Mendocino) makes a 50-50 blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris that reminded me somewhat of a good "natural" (slightly funky) Cru Beaujolais. So...the quality of this blend may reflect their close relationship.

Two weeks ago I was at Bassermann-Jordan and tried a blend of Pinot gris (grauburgunder) and Gewürztraminer that had been co-fermented on the skins in Amphora. It was an interesting light-rose color and tasted very much like rosewater with tannin. The alcohol was a little too high for my tastes, but it was interesting. The also have a couple of Amphorea of blaufränkisch fermenting and one of Muskateller which was excellent. These will likely not be offered to the public, but done only as experiments.

We are making Silvaner in Amphora with whole grapes (destemmed) this year and another in tank -the flavors so far are really extraordinary -lots of fruit tea and herbal notes. I'll put together some pictures of the digging and filling at some point. It was a hell of a lot of fun. I hope that they turn out.

cheers,
Bill