Cloudline Pinot Gris 2007. 89 pts.

I know what you're thinking and you are wrong. Sharks don't ONLY drink red wine! Our cuisine isn't just hearty scuba divers and big, rich walruses. It's far more varied and eclectic than that, and quite often the flavors just too delicate and subtle for a massive red wine. Of course it's front page news on the rare and great occasion when we manage to eat one of your humans, but more often than not, we're eating....well...seafood! Sea turtles, lobsters, scallops, squid, fish of every kind. Pretty much everything but aquatic plants. Leave them for those salad-eating whales! If only I could open my mouth a little wider, you'd see far less of those beatniks clogging up the ocean!

But I'm getting off the subject already...

My point is that more frequently than you might expect, our cuisine calls for a crisp, nuanced white wine with good minerality and acidity. One such occasion occurred the other night while patrolling off the coast of Oregon, my wife and I cracked open some beautiful, big Dungeness crabs. Earlier that day, I had picked up a bottle of Cloudline Oregon Pinot Gris from '07 and it sounded like a perfect match!


If you're unfamiliar with Cloudline, it is the second label of Domaine Drouhin in Oregon. And if you're unfamiliar with Domaine Drouhin, you've been missing out on some of the finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay made right here in America by one of Burgundy's biggest names. Needless to say, those wines don't come cheap. Prices for Domaine Drouhin wines start in the $40s, whereas Cloudline's most expensive wine is usually found in the low $20s. And since my 401k tanked last November, I've become quite the Cloudline fan...

The '07 Pinot Gris is 100% steel-fermented; it pours out a bright golden-yellow with a bouquet of baked apple, peach, pineapple and hibiscus. On the palate, it is surprisingly tropical yet lean with lemon zest and mouthwatering acidity. A chalky minerality and a tiny bit of spritz bring it all home. One hell of a seafood wine! This is far leaner and to the point than most of the Oregon Pinot Gris out there, which for me can be a little flabby sometimes. Clearly a more Alsatian style which is fine by me.

I give it 89 points. It might drink well for a year or two, but it'll be best tonight. It was an excellent partner with Dungeness crab and I can't wait to try it with Giant Sea Turtle!

Util next time,

-Robert Sharker