A forgettable white wine

When Mrs. R stumbled across an Italian white wine called Riff, with a pretty drawing of fossils on the label, she was immediately interested. As a geologist and wine lover, she is always on the lookout for winemakers that share her passion for soil. When Mr. R saw that the wine was made by Alois Lageder, who is perhaps Northern Italy's most gifted winemaker, expectations were set high.

It ended in utter disappointment. Frankly, the wine tasted of nothing. It was alcoholic and heavy on the nose, and bland and bitter tasting. A bad bottle? We don't think so; it didn't taste off, just boring.

How can this be? Mr. R decided to do a little research and found the following in a press release: "This top value Pinot Grigio reflects the expertise of acclaimed winegrower Alois Lageder, and the wines he selected from vineyard sources in the "Tre Venezie" (Alto Adige, Trentino and Veneto) (...) The vineyard sources for most of this Pinot Grigio contains a substantial amount of dolomite limestone."

Ah, so this is merely a mass-product from a wide range of vineyards, and the limestone soils (where those lovely fossils can be found) only make up a part of the blend. No wonder. We were fooled. Someone thought of a nice looking label to sell a mass-product. Nothing wrong with that, but not what we were looking for.

For the record: if you're interested, you can buy this Riff Pinot Grigio from Alois Lageder at your local OUA shop. We forgot what the price was. Just as we're trying to forget the rest of it.