I’ve developed a taste for good Pinot Blanc over the last decade or so, due largely to the wonderful bottlings from Island View Vineyard (Old Mission Peninsula) produced by Left Foot Charley up in Traverse City. Before then, I thought of the Blanc as a rather bland, also-ran white that was less impressive than its cousin, Pinot Gris. So it took a Michigan version of a wine that is perhaps most often associated with Alsace to show me what is possible from this grape.

I’ve tried some other Pinot Blancs out of curiosity since then to see if I could find anything else as good, or close to as good, as the Island View, and did find a pair from Alsace that were delightful (along with one that fell far short of those two, noted in the same report). Another northern Michigan bottling made from young vines some years back showed lots of promise, and those vines are probably producing excellent fruit right about now, but I haven’t had the opportunity to taste and find out. Frankly, there just isn’t a lot of this stuff out there in this market, which is why I was so pleasantly surprised and intrigued when I found this one at our friendly neighborhood Costco some weeks ago.

2016 Trimbach Pinot Blanc Alsace, 13% alc., $13.96: Full disclosure: I’m sipping on another one of these as I file this report, and quite enjoying it whilst I do. I like everything about it, from the easy-to-open Stelvin enclosure, to the satisfying, mineral-laced finish. In between, there’s a cleanly colored, nicely ripe and round glass of wine in the gravelly green apple and lime spectrum that delivers more intensity of flavor that I had expected the first time I tried it. It has good weight and the requisite acidity to move everything along nicely and complement a variety of foods, starting with critters you pull out of the water. This would do equally well with some pan seared Michigan trout or a nice smoked, grilled chicken on the Weber. Tasted five times with consistent results!

I’ve had a number of wines from Trimbach’s “Classics” lineup over several decades, and while they’ve always been more than serviceable, I’m hard-pressed to remember one that I went back for again and again, like I have with this one. It offers solid QPR (quality-price-ratio), I like it a lot, and I’ll be going back for more. Soon. Find this wine

Imported by Esprit Du Vin, Boca Raton, FL

Reporting from Day-twah,
Bastardo

Related posts:

1. More on Michigan Pinot Blanc
2. Pinot Blanc a la Left Foot Charley
3. Three Fine Northern Rhônes
4. Available at Your Friendly Local Retailer~Cloverleaf Fine Wines
5. Two QPR Italian Reds