Pradio Priara Pinot Grigio 2007

So hey, it’s a post about a bottle of wine that I’m working my way through which is a bit of a return to form I like to think.  Just to bring everyone up to speed as to who I am, what this blog is, and what one might expect to find here, here is a quick recap.

This blog was started a few months back to document my work in preparing for the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Diploma Unit 3 Exam.  The Diploma is broken down into six parts, five of which are typically covered in the first year and are all relatively bite-sized, and cover things like spirits, fortified wines, sparkling wines, what have you.  Unit 3, however, is Light Wines of the World, which is pretty much everything that’s wine which is neither sparkling nor fortified.  So everything really.

Over the last few months I outlined a study plan, wrote about various bits of the course material I was meant to know, and wrote up official WSET style tasting notes for most of what I drank.  Nearly two weeks ago I finally took the exam.  It was challenging, and I wasn’t particularly well prepared, but it’s done and I will know the result in two or three months.  In the meantime, I have another exam in two days with the Court of Master Sommeliers and if I am able to pass that, I’ll be a Certified Sommelier.

So, since I’m done with my first attempt at the exam, this blog could potentially be done, and then I could write a concluding chapter when the results are known?  And hey, I could sell this domain to one of the many people who seem to have expressed an interest since “drunk.com” started being used as some kind of thing on Twitter.  Not going to happen.

I’ve actually enjoyed writing this blog, and so since I’m likely to be drinking for quite some time, I’m going to continue to write about what I drink so that I have a record of what I was drinking when.  And who knows, some people might find it useful or entertaining.  (Yeah, right.)  But seriously, I’m doing this because I’m enjoying it, and see no reason to stop, even if this has outlived it’s initial charter leading up to the exam.

So anyway, tonight we opened up a bottle of Priara Pinot Grigio 2007 from Pradio.  This wine is from DOC Friuli Grave, which is of course in Italy, in the North East over by the border with Slovenia.  Two weeks ago I could have recited a fair bit about Friuli, but tonight I had to pull out a map, which is a bit embarrassing.  I do remember that the region is dominated by a huge collection of varietal wines, some of which not really well known in the greater wine world.

Pinot Grigio, on the other hand, is one of the few Italian varieties that has been elevated to International status.  Actually I’m not sure that’s completely accurate – it’s Italian, but Pinot Gris is French, and the same grape.  So maybe it’s one of those grapes, like Grenache, which has been International from the get go.  So while I know that there are great Pinot Gris from Alsace, I still think of Pinot Gris/Grigio as Italian/International.

So this wine is not bad, but it’s a bit of a morality tale in terms of cellar management.  I bought this wine three years ago as part of a mixed case after a lovely wine dinner held by a local wine merchant.  It went into the cellar, and then when we moved house, some of it went into storage as the temperature in our new place has some serious fluctuations.  I’m not sure how/when this bottle moved from storage back to the house, but it did so a year or two later than would have been ideal.

I liked wines that have a few years on them.  The Ridge Monte Bello from a few nights ago was fantastic at the 20 year mark.  Even whites I have been known to enjoy after careful cellaring.  My favourite aged varietals are Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and to some extent Riesling.  Semillon and Marsanne can also age very well.  Pinot Grigio though, is not especially well known as a cellaring wine, and there are reasons for that.

This wine was not bad, with some candied pear notes and still a little citrus zest.  However, I’m sure it was much better two or three years ago.  It’s my own fault – I’ve had this wine that whole time, but have not carefully managed my cellar and so things like this wine have peaked and started to fade without being drunk.  So this year I resolve to get a handle on what wines I have so as to not let this happen again.