2019 Cantina Terlan Pinot Grigio Alto Adige Italy 750 ml

For more than a century, Cantina Terlano has quietly produced some of Italy's most prized white wines. With recent attention from Michelin-star restaurants and a spate of glossy magazine spreads, that muffled dominance is starting to break out and rumble across the globe. 

But while a '61 Terlano Sauvignon will set you back $2500 at Del Posto, and their 98-point white blends cost several hundred bucks at NYC’s Marea, their benchmark Pinot Grigio—a mainstay at Napa's Oenotri and others—comes to our members for less than $20 a bottle! That is serious value for a crushable, mineral-driven wine made by one of Italy’s most beloved cool-climate producers.

In the last two years alone, Terlano was featured in articles in Forbes, Vanity Fair, Food and Wine and the Wine Advocate. Wine Spectator has labeled their wines "Italy's life-changing whites" and Decanter highlighted them in their "great wines of Italy" list. Their age-worthy Rarities bottlings have become bragging rights for high-end cellars, while their Pinot Grigio has become a staple in osterias from coast to coast.

This bottle is a massive win for the category at any price, much less $20.00. Buy a case of more to create your own by-the-glass program at home and pair it alongside those takeout antipasti. 

A supremely fresh and elegant wine, the 2019 Terlano opens with a ripe-melon bouquet, followed by flavors of almond, orchard blossom, and pome fruit. A zesty streak of salinity lifts the finish, bringing the wine back to its vibrant center and making it a killer companion with bright and briney dishes.

"Terlano makes excellent modestly priced wines meant for short-term drinking," the journalist Robert Camuto wrote in Wine Spectator. To be sure, he had the Pinot Grigio in mind. But what he didn't have in mind is the much-more-than-modest Wine Access price. 

Terlano Pinot Grigio is the best of its kind, bringing the high, crisp Alpine climate and rugged Tyrolean terrain to bear on a variety that absolutely shimmers in those conditions. The winery is a cooperative—it pulls from nearly 150 different sites across Italy's smallest growing region, Alto Adige—but countenances none of the usual co-op problems.

The dedicated local farmers tend to grow apples on the valley floor and grapes on the hillsides. They work close to the land, and get paid for the quality of their grapes rather than the quantity, meaning the focus is on low yields and intensely concentrated fruit. The steep slopes of quartz-rich volcanic soils impart something mysteriously striking and creamy into the wines, creating a Pinot Grigio of remarkable depth and standout character.