Good grief it is HARD to write about a wine when you can find virtually nothing about the vineyard or vintner. This is the problem I am having right now. The Chef brought home a couple bottles of Pinot Grigio for me to try and I have searched, searched and searched for any information about Cutler Creek Vineyards, and ............... nothing. So I have no interesting back story to share at all. No long family history or unique location, just my experience in the glass.
As a Pinot Grigio goes, this Cutler Creek wine was enjoyable. This one goes in the class of wines I like to call "girlfriend wines." If you are a wine drinker at all, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Barefoot, Flip Flop, Lulu, any wine with a cute label of stick figure girls- obviously marketed to women- tend to be light, sweeter and simple flavors. Don't get me wrong, I like these wines as well, and often will grab one for sipping, they just aren't very complex. Cutler Creek Pinot Grigio is almost a perfect clone of Barefoot. It's sweet with a hint of tart. It's fresh and makes a good wine for sipping as well as splashing into a light and fresh pasta sauce, marinade or a sprightly vinaigrette. It has an alcohol percentage of 12.5% which is a nice little kick for a low price wine and makes it a great choice for a white sangria if you want to tame the alcohol a bit.
The Chef and I were tasting and trying to pick out the notes. We both found something very different in the wine. He got a lot of green apple and fruity notes like pear and peach, but I found it to be slightly citrusy, with grass and herb notes, and some minerality underneath. Almost a flinty flavor. It made me wonder about where the grapes were grown, which launched my search to learn more.....that led me nowhere.
Would I buy this wine again? Sure- it makes a nice "stock your fridge" wine, a nice end-of-the-day sipper, would be great in wine cocktails. In fact, I may just grab a few just to play with- wine cocktail party anyone?
