2024 Giocato Pinot Grigio

100% Pinot Grigio. Organically farmed (non-certified) including dry-farmed; grapes picked by hand.  Fermented and aged simply in stainless steel. 13% alcohol.

Made by cult-winemaker Aleks Simcic, this Pinot Grigio would cost 40% more if made just two miles to the west. It hails from Goriška Brda in Slovenia, an area which was part of Italy’s esteemed Friuli region through the end of WWII. Generous and unoaked, with orchard fruits and clean minerality, this mouthwatering wine is a lovely Pinot Grigio at a great price.

Aleks Simcic, of the Edi Simcic estate in Slovenia, is considered by many to be one of the finest winemakers in Eastern Europe. Located just meters over the Italian border and next door to Colli Orientali in Friuli, Simcic lives in Goriška Brda, a lush, subalpine zone that actually belonged to Italy until the end of World War II. It also happens to be one of the region’s best areas, perhaps THE best area, to grow white varietals. Long-aging, intense, and sophisticated, his single estate wines now rival the best of France. In addition, Aleks also works with a handful of growers at the local co-op to make a series of affordables.  As his own estate is too small to produce Giocato on its own, Aleks makes the wines in conjunction with the organic co-op, Vinska Klet. Established in 1957, this collective of small, independent farmers is wholly devoted to organic farming - including dry farming – and maintains a philosophy close to his own. Working with a small number of growers with whom he has long-standing relationships, Aleks is able to choose the best hand-picked grapes that his neighbors have to offer. While they’re sourced from a number of sites in and around the village of Vipolže, the average vine age remains 20-30 years and the average altitude 180 meters, so the price-to-quality ratio remains lofty. As with next-door Friuli, the main soil type is ponca, a carbonate-driven clay full of salts and minerals that lends structure and poise to unoaked whites. Yields for the Giocato series are also remarkably low, at just under 1 bottle per plant!