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Cost (in U.S. dollars) of Amazon’s just released Oregon pinot noir from the Willamette Valley. With the help of the large well-known Oregon winery King Vintners, Amazon has launched its own wine label called NEXT. Besides the pinot noir, the Next brand also includes a $20 Oregon pinot gris and a $30 syrah/merlot/cabernet blend from the Oregon side of the Columbia Valley. The wines are available on, ahem, you know where.

As of this year’s harvest in Italy, the Prosecco DOC laws will be revised to allow for the creation of rosé Prosecco. What grape variety will be used to make “Pink Prosecco” pink?

A. Corvina

B. Pinot Noir

C. Cabernet Franc

D. Sangiovese

While corvina and cabernet franc both grow in the Veneto region where Prosecco is made, the red grape of choice for Pink Prosecco will be pinot noir, which also grows there. Up until now, Prosecco has always been a white sparkling wine based 85% on the indigenous grape glera, with smaller amounts of the white grapes bianchetta trevigiana, chardonnay, perera, pinot blanc, pinot grigio, and verdiso added, plus the red grape pinot noir. The catch was that the pinot noir had to be made into a white wine before it could be used in the Prosecco blend. With the change in the DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata), pinot noir will be allowed to be made into a red wine which will then be allowed to be added to the blend, turning the Prosecco pink.

“We think of syrah as pinot noir with more structure. Syrah is for pinot noir lovers with really sophisticated palates.”

—Greg Harrington
Owner/Winemaker, Gramercy Cellars
Walla Walla, Washington

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