You know, I've seen this wine around for some time and I finally broke down and grabbed a bottle. This one goes for between $16 and $25 depending on where you shop – I have no access to sales figures and the like but my assumption is this is probably the most popular Pinot Grigio in the United States – from serious wine shops to Costco to the local grocery store, to almost any Italian restaurant's wine list, this one seems to everywhere.....but does it deserve to be?Ultra tart apples and a little bit of pear on the nose with the slightest hint of gasoline.
Fruity, yet ultimately fairly dry. Apples, a little bit of grape jelly, some very dry stone fruit, maybe a bit of lime, and there is some decent mineral character here.
The finish is fades quick and is mostly lime.
I'll call this absurdly mediocre – there's nothing here, other than perhaps some less residual sugar, that you can't get in any number of cheaper Pinot Grigio out there.
Bravo - what a refreshingly honest review of Santa Margherita! Most people claim to love it just because it's expensive and well-known, but I fully agree that it's a pretty disappointing wine. You might prefer a Pinot Grigio called Maso Canali. It can be a little harder to find, but it's usually a few dollars cheaper than Santa Margherita, and a far better wine in terms of complexity.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog by the way! I'm inspired to start keeping better track of the wines I try now.