Can’t agree. I’ve had some terrific mineral laden examples. Pinot Gris(Grigio) is the most common variety I would vote for. Pinot Blanc is worse but you don’t see a lot of it. Chenin has a lot of sameness to me.
Recent Prager Hinter Der Berg did not excite, although nothing wrong with it, but I have had more minerally expressions.
BTW jeremy, I think Muller Thurgau may take the prize.
Cheers,
Kent
Agreed. Just a whiff of a Pichler GV “M” would change his mind. And a sip of Kellerberg would solidify it.
Yeah and so is ABCs Greys Anatomy, but plenty of 55 year old women like both.
I’d have to say that the homogenization of Cabernet Sauvignon bores me much more than the elusive nature of good Gruner.
+1. Had a Knoll Vinotheke (is that how you spell it?) a couple of weeks back courtesy of A.Ballin, and that was some crazy stuff with a percentage of botrytised grapes thrown in. Really very interesting.
Boring wines? Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc must be way up there for me.
hahaha. Pretty funny. I used to think that about cabernet. Stopped drinking it for about 3 years but I have come back around to it and now really love it again. that said, i have become much more of a white guy. i love GV but really dig white burgs too.
My vote for the most boring grape is American Merlot. Picpoul would be second. Not sure about Pinot grigio. isn’t it the same as Pinot gris? If so, Alsatian producers save it from ignominy.
Gruner accounts for some of the greatest white wines I’ve ever had. Hardly ever boring, except when it just tastes like chardonnay…
But it’s true, pinot grigio wins the boring title hands down.
From vinifera, I have to give Muller Thurgau the nod. Pinot Grigio may be a bland varietal, but the question was what is the most boring variety. The grape variety Pinot Grigio is composed of does make some interesting wines, usually with labels that say Pinot Gris or Grauburgunder.
Cheers,
fred
I lump GV in with Sauvignon Blanc and have difficulty (blinded) telling the two apart. I much much prefer Riesling for my Austrian choices and own about 3 b of GV, including some Knoll Vinotek. It’s just too herbal for me, though . . .
alan
As others have said:
FX PICHLER…can’t say enough about the wines-
Prager can be great too.
No!
Brett Favre.
Boring? I got boring for you: The vast majority of California Chardonnay; ditto the current model of California Cabernet Sauvignon; most of the Aussie Shiraz I’ve tried; mass production Pinot Grigio…
But Gruner Vetliner? No, I can’t say I’ve ever had a boring one; maybe I’ve been lucky, but I don’t just buy willy-nilly and of course I tend to give them more time in bottle than Jeremy.
I’m not sure about the superlative, but I really don’t find them particularly interesting. The GV bottles in my cellar are gathering dust, and, although C & I tried quite a few when we were in Austria last year, we thought them much less appealing than that country’s rieslings, for examples.
There’s a lot more boring wine from Pinot Gris/Grigio, Sauvingon Blanc and Chardonnay than there is from Gruner Veltliner.
That’s no doubt true, as is what Frank said. However - there’s just a whole lot more PG, SB, and Chardonnay in the world than there is GV.
At the top end, there’s some pretty good Chardonnay. And although I wouldn’t have said it a few years ago, even some pretty good PG and here and there a good SB, esp if you’re looking in the Loire and not New Zealand or somewhere else. Gruner Veltliner at the top end? I don’t get it.
A few years ago at a blind tasting of some good GVs - F.X. Pichler, Rudolph Pichler, Brundlmayer, Prager, Hiedler, Hirsch, Nigl, one wine really stood out and made all the rest seem weak. On unveiling it turned out that best wine was an accident. When the guy was taking the bottles out of the cellar, he thought he was grabbing the F.X Pichler GV but instead grabbed the Riesling. So we learned that Pichler makes a damned good Riesling.
But I’d love to try GV grown somewhere else. Who knows - like so many other grapes, it may be something really remarkable elsewhere. Until then, I probably wouldn’t say it’s the most boring grape in the world - there are too many that are worse, but I get the point made by the OP and my sentiments are with him.
I have little experience with GV but have heard people rave about it. Last week, we was in a good restaurant and ordered a charcuterie plate to share. I ordered a glass of 2009 Leth GV. They brought the 2010. It was delicious. My wife had a taste, and then another and then another. It was so complex and tasty, we just gulped it down.
So the answer is no.
You need to try one of these:
Uh, “White Zinfandel” is not a variety. It’s made from the red zinfandel grape.
But you knew that. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}