Sainsburys, plenty of Pinot Grigio to choose from but all coming from the same bottlers..

A couple of days ago I went to my local Sainsbury for some shopping and noticed the massive number of Pinot Grigio on offers, I recall at least 8 different ones. Surprised, I stopped and started looking the back label of each and every Pinot Grigio on the shelves, not only the ones on offer, trying to see the differences between them because their prices were ranging from £4.99 to about £9.

As usual, the back label did not say much about the wines, a part from a few minor differences but not enough to justify such a price difference. I then, looked for hints at where the wines were from, and I was even more surprised, when I realised that all the different wines were from only three bottlers. None of the wines were made by producers, they were made by 3 bottling companies. In Italy and for Italian wines, bottlers, do not have a good reputation for quality.

I would have been a nice and interesting exercise to taste the whole lot and see if there was, in reality, any difference on the quality of the wine for the different prices or the different labels were only a way to satisfy different consumers needs, from the ones that after the lowest price to the ones that are prepared to spend a few extra pounds for a better wine.

I can certainly say that, at the top of the price range, it is possible to find wines made by producers and not bottlers that will taste much better. For wine, like food in general, the origin tells a lot about what is in the bottle.