I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking when I picked up this bottle of Rex-Goliath Pinot Grigio 2004.

Oh, yes, I was thinking it was on sale. Of course, when I got home and started to review my receipt, I realized not only was it not on sale, but it was not in the normal price range that I like to pay at the grocery store for wine. Call me snooty (go ahead, you know you want to), but if I'm going to pay almost ten dollars for a bottle (this bottle was $8.99), I usually buy it in a liquor store, through a wine club, or at wine shop or restaurant.

As a few readers have noted to me via email, I tend to mainly drink red wines, so that was one reason I was on the lookout for a white wine to try out. All that said, I was pleasantly surprised by this California vintage, and I seem to be warming up more and more to Pinot Grigio in general these days.

Spitton.biz tends to agree with me: Another in the Goliath range - again over-priced if buying a single bottle but fine if you take advantage of the buy two get a third free deal running across the Threshers estate. A cross between an Italian Pinot Grigio and an Alsace version. More weight than an Italian, nicely rounded (hint of sweetness?), good peachy, apple flavours, touches of herbs and apricots. Not outstanding but I liked it.

By the way, if you want to know why these folks have a rooster on the bottle, check out their website, which also has all kinds of useless yet fun facts about chickens.