PDX to PHX: Wine Wednesday: King Estate Luminous Pinot Gris

When K and I were on our trip to the Northwest a few weeks ago, we did a little bit of wine tasting. Of course I couldn't miss my favorite winery in the world, King Estate. We decided to pick up a bottle of this limited edition Luminous Pinot Gris. Don't be fooled by the pink color, this is not a rosé! I am not a fan of the rosé, so I was surprised that I actually liked this wine. That's because unlike a rosé , which is traditionally made from red grapes that are separated from their skins, this is made from Pinot Gris grapes and is allowed to soak with the skins for 72 hours. Traditionally Pinot Gris is separated from its skins before fermentation, because the Pinot Gris grape is actually purplish grey.

Anyway, this is a really nice crisp, dry wine. It isn't at all sweet, but it isn't too tart. It's nicely balanced. The skins added tannins, which give it a tiny bit of astringency. I realize that doesn't sound like something you would want to find in your wine, but it worked here and was not at all unpleasant. This wine was great with spicy foods, but also it cuts sweetness nicely. I served it with some easy happy hour foods, a few kinds of bruschetta and also some figs stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto.

Because this is such a great summer wine, and figs are such a great summer fruit, I decided these two had to be on the same table. I made my favorite fig and goat cheese bruschetta, along with pesto and sopressata bruschetta, and a new one with brie, figs and prosciutto.

I had some figs left over, so I quartered them lengthwise, almost but not quite to the bottom. Then I stuffed them with goat cheese, wrapped them in prosciutto and topped them with freshly cracked pepper and a little drizzle of honey. Then I baked them for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.