Pizza Vino

Wandering through Jungle Jim's the other day, I was seduced by the friendly label and utter simplicity of Pizza Vino Pinot Grigio. I did not expect a great wine. After all, the back label reads: ... Pizza Vino will tell you that their wines taste good, and taste even better with pizza. Proper serving vessels include fine stemware, juice glasses, tumblers, and plastic cups. This wine goes equally well with pizza, carry-out Chinese, and string cheese.
What can I say? I liked the honesty.

We had our Pizza Vino with a Papa Murphy's cheese pizza & dee-lite crust. Now, as far as take-out pizza goes, Papa Murphy's is the best, hands down. They create the pizza - you bring it home and cook it.

First we tried the wine alone. It smelled like a cheap Pinot Grigio. You know exactly what I mean, right? It tastes like apples and pears, and it is a little sweet. This is not a wine I would enjoy on a regular basis without the right food to help it along.

Paired with the pizza, however, we were completely surprised. I don't know if it was because the pizza was so good or if the wine really does pair well with pizza, but there was a marked improvement. The slight sweetness in the wine helped bring out the sweetness in the sauce. There was definite truth in advertising - Pizza Vino does go quite well with pizza.

I like that it aspires to nothing more. It revels in its own simplicity. It's a fun, honest wine and I had fun drinking it. My complaint? We paid $9.99. This is more of a $6.99 wine. I don't think it is a $10 wine, even if it does claim to pair well with pizza.

Our score:

Pizza Vino Pinot Grigio 2005
Las Vinas Winery
Lodi, California
http://www.pizzavino.com
Pizza Vino is owned and marketed by Ohio-based JZ Wine Company and has had a large launch in the Ohio area.