Jul 20th, 2010 by hotinlittlerock
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When you go out for dinner do you usually choose to order the same wine every time? Many of us do. Our spouse and daughter are drawn to Pinot Grigio, as are lots and lots of others apparently. This is one of the most popular white wines going. We are not among those who would order a Pinot Grigio when dining out, nor would we bring it home. That is until we tasted one from King Estates in Oregon.
A little confession is in order. Since we are strictly amateur in terms of our wine knowledge, it came as a surprise when we were doing some research to discover that the grape we had associated with Italy (spouse’s beloved home) is actually from Alsace. The grape is Pinot Gris, or gray Pinot. Obviously, it is related to the popular Pinot Noir. The skins of the Pinot Gris grapes are separated early in the fermentation process resulting in the delicate flaxen color.
The Pinot Gris we tasted is a 2007 King Estate. Right away we noticed aromas of pear and melon, and on the palate these were joined by a hint of lemon and perhaps peach. Somewhere in there we found just a bit of spice and nice minerality. The wine has an elegant mouthfeel, and a lingering finish.
We think this wine would pair nicely with the pork tenderloin we’ll be serving for dinner tonight. We will sear the tenderloins over hot coals to give them some color. Then we will move them off the direct heat, lower the cover, and leave them to roast for about 30 minutes.
A smoky flavor will season the veggies we cut into a large dice, tossed in olive oil, and put into a grill pan over the coals (before we added the pork). When they begin to take on color, we will transfer them to a baking dish and put them in the oven to finish.
The bread is from a fantastic NYTimes column from a few years ago. It is long-rise, wet dough baked in a very, very hot Dutch oven (500 degrees for 30 minutes). Great crust, great flavor.
We will not be so hard on our spouse for her dedication to Pinot Grigio in future, but we will try to steer her toward Pinot Gris from Oregon’s King Estate. We’d recommend you get steered in that direction, too.
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