White Delight
If you follow the tipsy trail right back to when this little barfly started blogging, you’ll notice that I don’t really talk about white wines nearly as much as red.
If my relationship with white wine were a status on Facebook, we’d fall under the ‘It’s Complicated’ category. Simply put, cheap white wine had a really bad influence on me during my uni days. Don’t get me wrong, we had some amazing nights together, but in the end all I was left with the next morning was a bitter aftertaste in my mouth and one too many horrible hangovers. Serves me right – for thinking that quantity over quality was a good idea. Eventually, the relationship proved too toxic to continue, so I stopped all communication, and focused my energies to finding a nice bottle of red to settle down with instead.
Getting Back In The Game…
I’m happy to say now however, after 2 years of abstinence, I’m slowly learning to appreciate white wine again.
I can drink some of the lighter whites and really enjoy them. Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio are my favourites – they’re fruity, but not too sweet, and light enough to enjoy half a bottle without the acidity bringing up any bad memories. In comparison to other white varieties, on average the acid of the pinot gris/grigio grape drops very quickly upon ripening, which makes for easy growing in cooler climates, and also makes it ultra friendly food-wine.
Let’s look at the 2012 Mojo Pinot Gris, as a divine example. Each light, crisp mouthful is better than the first, smacking & smelling softly of pear, passionfruit, honeysuckle- but not overpoweringly so like some of it’s cousins. Drink it with a simple salad & fresh fish.
Another simple, and glaringly obvious tip to drinking white is to have it pre-chilled to the correct temperature. The chill magically counterbalances the acidity, kindly making each sip refreshing.
And so, armed with a renewed sense of hope & appreciation I continue to work my way through bottles in the Gris/Grigio family. I knew the Mojo would be a keeper – having already been thoroughly impressed by a Shiraz of theirs I tried last year. I plucked this bottle from the shelf at Vintage Cellars, and a knowing wink from the manager sealed the deal. Wine tasting notes aren’t on their website for this variety as yet, so leave any critiquing in the capable hands of both your tastebuds & your imagination :)
