Riff Pinot Grigio 2020
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Wilfred
Wong - Vinous
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Fresh, lively, precise, medium-bodied with a fresh mouth-watering finish, dry and crisp. Best to be drunk: Properly cellared, this wine can keep for at least 2 – 3 years.
Pair with starters, poultry, white meat, pasta
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2020 Riff Pinot Grigio is fresh, bright, and smooth on the palate; TASTING NOTES: This wine exhibits pleasing aromas and flavors of sandalwood, dried earth, and ripe citrus. Enjoy it with a California roll. (Tasted: September 29, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
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Vinous
The 2020 Pinot Grigio is sweetly scented, blending tropical citrus with hints of vanilla custard and white flowers. This is soft and round in feel with a nice balance of ripe fruits and saline-tinged acidity. Clean finish with a hint of candied lime. This is really quite nice, especially at its price point.
Other Vintages
2021-
Wilfred
Wong
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Wilfred
Wong
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Wilfred
Wong
This top value Pinot Grigio reflects the expertise of the acclaimed Alois Lageder winery, who produce RIFF together with their partner growers from mountain vineyards in the Veneto region of Italy.
The name, RIFF, comes from the German word for reef, reflecting the ancient oceanic origins of the Dolomites; where the rugged Northern Italian Alps lie today, there was once, 220 million years ago, an ocean filled with colorful coral reefs. As the sea retreated over the course of millions of years fossilized coral reefs turned into an impressive mountain landscape. Today the rock layers are still full of hidden fossils, such as crabs, mussels and the nautilus, telling of a time gone by.
Sustainable agriculture is very important to the Alois Lageder winery, and they were excited to announce, after many years of working with their grower partners to convert to organic farming, that Riff became certified organic with the 2021 vintage.
The 2021 RIFF wine label has also been updated. It still reflects the Nautilus, reminiscent of its ancient origins, but simplified into six color fields, representing the mathematical perfection of the golden spiral. This balance is what Lageder strive for in this wine.
Showing a unique rosy, purplish hue upon full ripeness, this “white” variety is actually born out of a mutation of Pinot Noir. The grape boasts two versions of its name, as well as two generally distinct styles. In Italy, Pinot Grigio achieves most success in the mountainous regions of Trentino and Alto Adige as well as in the neighboring Friuli—all in Italy’s northeast. France's Alsace and Oregon's Willamette Valley produce some of the world's most well-regarded Pinot Gris wine. California produces both styles with success.
Where Does Pinot Gris / Pinot Grigio Come From?
Pinot Gris is originally from France, and it is technically not a variety but a clone of Pinot Noir. In Italy it’s called Pinot Grigio (Italian for gray), and it is widely planted in northern and NE Italy. Pinot Gris is also grown around the globe, most notably in Oregon, California, and New Zealand. No matter where it’s made or what it’s called, Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio produces many exciting styles.
Tasting Notes for Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio is a dry, white wine naturally low in acidity. Pinot Grigio wines showcase signature flavors and aromas of stone fruit, citrus, honeysuckle, pear and almond. Alsatian styles are refreshing, expressive, aromatic (think rose and honey), smooth, full-bodied and richly textured and sometimes relatively higher in alcohol compared to their Italian counterpart. As Pinot Grigio in Italy, the style is often light and charming. The focus here is usually to produce a crisp, refreshing, lighter style of wine. While there are regional differences of Pinot Grigio, the typical profile includes lemon, lime and subtle minerality.
Pinot Grigio Food Pairings
The viscosity of a typical Alsatian Pinot Gris allows it to fit in harmoniously with the region's rich foods like pork, charcuterie and foie gras. Pinot Grigio, on the other hand, with its citrusy freshness, works well as an aperitif wine or with seafood and subtle chicken dishes.
Sommelier Secrets
Given the pinkish color of its berries and aromatic potential if cared for to fully ripen, the Pinot Grigio variety is actually one that is commonly used to make "orange wines." An orange wine is a white wine made in the red wine method, i.e. with fermentation on its skins. This process leads to a wine with more ephemeral aromas, complexity on the palate and a pleasant, light orange hue.
Producing every style of wine and with great success, the Veneto is one of the most multi-faceted wine regions of Italy.
Veneto's appellation called Valpolicella (meaning “valley of cellars” in Italian) is a series of north to south valleys and is the source of the region’s best red wine with the same name. Valpolicella—the wine—is juicy, spicy, tart and packed full of red cherry flavors. Corvina makes up the backbone of the blend with Rondinella, Molinara, Croatina and others playing supporting roles. Amarone, a dry red, and Recioto, a sweet wine, follow the same blending patterns but are made from grapes left to dry for a few months before pressing. The drying process results in intense, full-bodied, heady and often, quite cerebral wines.
Soave, based on the indigenous Garganega grape, is the famous white here—made ultra popular in the 1970s at a time when quantity was more important than quality. Today one can find great values on whites from Soave, making it a perfect choice as an everyday sipper! But the more recent local, increased focus on low yields and high quality winemaking in the original Soave zone, now called Soave Classico, gives the real gems of the area. A fine Soave Classico will exhibit a round palate full of flavors such as ripe pear, yellow peach, melon or orange zest and have smoky and floral aromas and a sapid, fresh, mineral-driven finish.
Much of Italy’s Pinot grigio hails from the Veneto, where the crisp and refreshing style is easy to maintain; the ultra-popular sparkling wine, Prosecco, comes from here as well.