Last night while desperately trying to find a good value on a restaurant wine list I came across a popular brand of Pinot Grigio for $60 a bottle. SIXTY DOLLARS!!!

Seeing this I had a flashback to a recent conversation I had with an Italian winemaker. I was visiting the estate of Giuseppe and Luigi Anselmi located in the Friuli region of Italy. The estate was founded in the 1920s by Anselmi's grandparents. The estate has 150 hectares of vineyards dedicated to grapes like sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, merlot and cabernet. They also grow more indigenous varieties such as refosco dal peduncolo rosso, ribolla gialla, tocai friulano, verduzzo, franconia, schioppettino, pignolo and moscato rosa. Oh, and did I mention they are also the largest producer of Pinot Grigio in Friuli?

As for my conversation with Luigi, I got the feeling that we Americans take our Pinot Grigio a little too seriously. He told me that locally no one drinks Pinot Grigio in that part of Italy. They most often drink Tocai Friulano when drinking white wine. So what happens to all that Pinot Grigio? You guessed it, he exports it to the USA.

That is not to say that Anselmi's Pinot Grigio, bottled under the name Zellina, is not a delicious example of light bodied, crisp, refreshing white wine. But $60 for Pinot Grigio?

You can find the Zellina Pinot Grigio in our stores for under $10. Drink up!

Paul Quaglini

SE Florida Wine Supervisor