New World: Pinot Gris
2014: Gold 1 Silver 1 Bronze 1 Commended 1
2013: Gold 2 Silver 1 Bronze 3 Commended N/A
Must-list status: 20%
Overall SWA performance 2014: D
Cast your mind back to when you were 17 and pursuing the guy/girl of your dreams. You spend weeks preparing the ground, plucking up courage to ask them out and finally pop the question, only to be damned with faint praise.
Well, such is the lot of New World Pinot Gris as it attempts to seduce the UK on-trade.
‘There were no amazing wines here,’ said Hakkasan Mayfair’s Riccardo Marcon. ‘But most of them were perfectly nice.’
A peck on the cheek and just good friends then… no wonder numbers were down.
You can imagine the variety walking the streets and wondering to itself just what it has to do to be taken seriously as an A1, red hot Mr Loverman.
In truth, our tasters have found Gold-Listed wines here for the past four years, so they’re clearly not averse to the grape, despite its links with Grigio (the equivalent of having a tearaway older brother). But there’s a definite feeling that not enough people are taking it seriously – particularly outside New Zealand.
FOOTNOTE: Pinot Gris costing les thatn £12 ex-VAT can be entered either here or in the relevant Varietal Classics category.
From The Tasting Teams
‘It was more Gris than Grigio, definitely more aromatic. A couple could have had Sauvignon Blanc in them – they had that sort of character.’ Peter McCombie MW, team leader