Scarpetta Pinot Grigio 2020

Few grape varieties divide the wine-drinking masses more than Pinot Grigio. The fact that it has been constantly struggling with a very public identity crisis benefits neither vine nor consumer. Not actually its own distinct variety, Pinot Grigio, like Pinot Blanc, is actually a color mutation of the much more universally beloved Pinot Noir.

 

One of the best Friulian Pinot Grigios we have discovered is made by a winery called Scarpetta, owned and operated by Bobby Stuckey, M.S. and Chef Lachlan Patterson, the owners and masterminds behind James Beard Award-winning restaurant Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado. Scarpetta’s wines are created to complement the Friuli-inspired cuisine of the restaurant, and they achieve this mission well. The Pinot Grigio, surprisingly, is the standout in their lineup, which also includes a Sauvignon Blanc, a Friulano, a Barbera, and a sparkling Rosé. Planting vines in cooler sites accounts for impressive balance of acidity and alcohol, and a brief period of skin-contact followed by six months of lees aging lends body and texture atypical of the often watery beverage.