Two wines today: a very sweet pinot gris from Zellenberg in Alsace and a white blend from Tuscany. The pinot ran me $14 on sale; the white blend was $10.
The Edmond Rentz grand crus pinot is from Froehn, a vineyard in Zellenberg. Here's what the vinalsace.com web site says about it: "
Situated
on a knoll of calcareous sandstone, Zellenberg, a small winegrowing town to the
east of Riquewihr, dominates a fine vineyard. Facing south-south-east, the 14.60
ha Frœhn lines the steep hillside at 270 to 300 metres of altitude. It is a
marl-clay soil, made of dark grey schistous marl, showing some small white
calcareous layers and also some carbonated and iron rich nodules. The Frœhn
favours the cultivation of Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris and Muscat. In his work
of reference, Médard Barth cites the Frœhn as one of the finest vineyards of
the period. Frœhn wines are noted for their fruitiness and full flavour. Their
richness confers excellent ageing potential."
This is the sweetest pinot gris I've drunk, more along the lines of a riesling than an Italian or Californian pinot. It was good, just very sweet. Honey notes, citrusy, maybe apricot. The notes at Invino suggest drinking it was scallops but I can't imagine that. Lobster maybe since it tends to be sweeter.
I looked up the Giacomo and there's no description of what goes into the blend. I'd guess a lot of pinot. It's a drinkable, pull out to drink with the chicken, nice middle-of-the-road white. For $10 it's worth it.
