So two very unfortunate things happened this week. On Tuesday it was 107 degrees outside. This is an unreasonable temperature, especially when you live in a home without air conditioning AND the weather this summer had blessed us with the 5 weeks immediately proceeding this heat burst where the temperature rarely exceed 78. On Monday, when the temperature merely brushed up against 100 degrees, we decided we should open the Blason Pinot Grigio to help cool off.

Which brings us to the second unfortunate thing, though it happened first. The first sign that things might not be great was the bright yellow synthetic cork I pulled out of the bottle. I hate to admit it, but yes, I am biased against wines corked with synthetic materials, especially brightly colored synthetic materials. I just haven’t ever had a wine sealed that way that blew my socks off. (Please don’t confuse this with screw caps, however. I’ve had many a delicious wine sealed with a crew cap).

The wine was super pale yellow and actually smelled pretty good. It was fresh and light with a faint lemon scent. But, then I tasted it. Its not like it was God-awful, it tasted of minerals and hay or straw with a light taste. But, the finish was funky, and just tasted cheap. I did drink my initial 1/2 glass while making dinner, but when I poured the second half after the kids were in bed and took my first few sips I realized I wasn’t enjoying the wine at all. I turned to Myles and announced that I didn’t want anymore. Not from that glass or the bottle. Wine has calories and these just aren’t worth it. And while he finished the remainder in my glass, he didn’t want anymore from the bottle either. Before going to bed I unceremoniously poured the rest of the bottle down the drain.

I can’t help wonder, did K&L steer me wrong by stocking this wine? I don’t know enough to know whether or not the wine was “correct” according to typicity and place standards, so maybe it was fine, just not my thing. Who knows?! K&L describes it as being “sensational” and “extraordinarily drinkable for the price”, being really good in the price-to-quality ratio, and that its a lot better than most other pinot grigios that cost less than $10. All I do know is that we didn’t like it.

I should’ve spent a bit more $$ and gotten this one from a producer often mentioned in my wine books, or this one that received a good score. Perhaps they’re better examples of the grape in this region.

The Score: ★

I decided to insert a “break wine” in between this one and the sylvaner, because I wanted to drink a red. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a disappointment (perhaps I’ll post about that another time), so we were anxious to get back to Alsatian whites. After a hack job of opening the bottle (I had to fish cork out of both our glasses-- oops!), I poured us each a glass. The wine had the color of bright yellow gold.

I’ve only ever had Pinot Grigio, of the Italian persuasion, but having done my homework, I was expecting something heavier in this Pinot Gris. I’ve seen Italian-style PG described as “crisp” and Alsatian as “luscious”. It was hardly enough of a warning! The wine’s nose was almost overwhelming. It represented nearly all the tropical fruits and in a heavy way. Like a big bowl of tropical fruit salad. I could tell it was both richer and spicier than either of the other Alsatian whites we’d tried thus far. It actually smelled thick and sweet, a little reminiscent of butterscotch!

One sip, and I said “hmmm”... it was absolutely full-bodied in a way unlike any other white wine I’d had before. (Meaning I didn’t hate it, over-oaked chardonnay being my only other full-bodied white wine experience- blech!) I tasted a light caramel flavor mixed with super concentrated stone fruit, like apricots and peaches. And in fact, the wine does have some residual sugar, 14 grams per litre, making it more medium-dry than dry (not sure if I like that as much...). I thought the finish tasted more like almonds, but Myles said it reminded him of sacramental wine and thus he didn’t like the finish. “Cheap” was how he described it. I’ve never had the pleasure of tasting sacramental wine so I didn’t think cheap was accurate, but it certainly was dense!

K&L’s notes come from reviews in Wine & Spirits and Wine Spectator (which scored this wine 92 points and 90 points respectively). My tasting notes seem completely off base compared to theirs. W&S describes it as clean and fresh, tasting of pear, kiwi and citrus (huh?!). While WS does mention peaches and spice (yay!), they also mention acidity, which I didn’t pick up on. I recognized the acidity of the Alsatian riesling right away, and found it thirst-quenching. This wine seemed to coat my mouth with its thickness and subtle sweetness. The notes on Schlumberger’s website seem a bit more in line with my experience.

Don’t get me wrong though- I liked the wine. It was just so unusual! I’d love to taste it next to one of those crisp Italian pinot grigios sometime, just to see. I do think it probably would have been better with food, unfortunately as a nursing mother I’m finding my windows of wine-drinking opportunity seem to be falling before and after dinner, not during.

The score: ★★★½