St. Julian Pinot Grigio Case (12)

Sunday, September 30, 2012

It’s a good question, we feel. No matter how delicious the taste of Honeycrisp apples and tropical fruit, why would you want to drink a wine named after some dude you didn’t even understand? So we’ve done a little research into the matter, and we think we’ve figured out which St. Julian has loaned this wine his name.

Our first guess was Julian of Toledo. He took his position by poisoning Wamba, the king of the Visigoths, which is so BEYOND METAL that our heart raced to give him all the credit. But it turns out that this wine is in the Italian “grigio” style with a lush rich body, and why would the Italians name a wine after a Toledoian? So we moved on.

Our next choice was Julian of Le Mans, who lived in the 3rd or 4th Century. He was thought to be a Roman nobleman, which is the next best thing to being an Italian, right? He was sent to Gaul to preach to the Cenomani, and cared for the poor and sick in the Le Mans area. He even supposedly performed a miracle and created a spring from the ground, as bright and clean as this wine that shares a name very much like his. We say “very much” because it probably isn’t this St. Julian. How do we know? Well, Julian of Le Mans didn’t pair well with roasted chicken and sushi, and this wine does.

Ultimately we decided Julian of Antioch was the best choice for this wine’s namesake. Why? Because he was sewn up a sack half-filled with scorpions, sand and vipers and then thrown into the sea. And if anyone has a good excuse for needing a 12-pack of wine, it’s a guy with a story like that.

So we salute you, St. Julian, with this 2011 Pinot Grigio! Thanks for lookin’ out for us.

• Appellation: Lake Michigan Shore
• Varietals: Pinot Grigio
• Alcohol: 12%
• Acid: 7.8 grams per Liter
• pH: 3.27
• Residual Sugar: 0.1%

Woot