Fast facts:
- 2023 Trader Joe’s Reserve Pinot Gris Lot #258, Willamette Valley, Oregon $9.99 (@Trader Joe’s, California)
Imagine you have ended up on a televised broadcast of Wheel…of…Fortune. Your friends are of course mortified that you didn’t make it on to Jeopardy. The clue is Oregon wine grapes. The first word is 5 letters and the second is four. Everyone at home is sure they have it: “Pinot Noir!” they are yelling at you, on the screen. They would all be wrong, but on a whim you take a chance and guess Pinot Gris and walk away with Vanna and whatever other gifts they bestow on Wheel of Fortune.
But you’d be forgiven if you had, in fact, guessed Pinot Noir. After all, the Willamette Valley is one of Pinot Noir’s most successful New World outposts, and the largest and most important AVA in Oregon. With a continental climate moderated by the influence of the Pacific Ocean, it is perfect for cool-climate viticulture and the production of elegant wines such as this one.
This one comes on the heels of our prior Trader Joe’s Wine of the Week which was an equally delicious Albariño. Yep, we’re on a white wine roll here. Good thing. Temps are hovering around 100 degrees here at the Vinopointer Tower in SoCal. Summer is going out like a lion it seems.
The Willamette Valley is in a period of ascendancy with wine consumers. The three prominent soil types (volcanic, sedimentary and silty, loess) make it unique and create significant differences in wine styles among its vineyards and sub-AVAs. The iron-rich, basalt-based, Jory volcanic soils found commonly in the Dundee Hills are rich in clay and hold water well; the chalky, sedimentary soils of Ribbon Ridge, Yamhill-Carlton and McMinnville encourage complex root systems as vines struggle to search for water and minerals. In the most southern stretch of the Willamette, the Eola-Amity Hills sub-AVA soils are mixed, shallow and well-drained. The Hills’ close proximity to the Van Duzer Corridor (which became its own appellation as of 2019) also creates grapes with great concentration and firm acidity, leading to wines that perfectly express both power and grace.
Though Pinot Noir still enjoys the limelight here, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay also thrive in the Willamette. Increasing curiosity has risen recently in the potential of other old world varieties like Grüner Veltliner, Chenin Blanc and Gamay.
Tasting Notes:
Pours a light straw color and offers soft aromas of blossom, almond, pears, red apple and ocean air. In the mouth you get grapefruit notes and flavors of lemon poppyseed, minerality, green apple and white peach. Nice balance of fruit flavors and acidity. Drink this lovely white wine as an aperitif or with various food pairings from pear and gorgonzola salad to garlic and butter herbed mussels or pesto pasta. ABV = 13.5%
Need More Wine Picks from Trader Joe’s – or Costco?
If your search for this wine lands you in Trader Joe’s, take along our handy Lucky 13 list of TJ’s wine here.
And if your wine shopping excursions land you in Costco, prepare by grazing our most recent reviews of Costco wines here in our Lucky 13 list.
Cheers!
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