Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio Valdadige
Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio Valdadige is the benchmark Italian Pinot Grigio — 12.5% ABV, 750mL, Valdadige DOC, 100% Pinot Grigio from the Adige valley in Trentino-Alto Adige, soft-pressed off the skins, fermented in stainless steel and bottled dry and unoaked. It is available to order online at Del Mesa Liquor.
- ABV: 12.5%
- Size: 750mL
- Appellation: Valdadige DOC, Adige valley, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy
- Grape: 100% Pinot Grigio, hand-harvested
- Winemaking: Soft pressing with the must kept off the skins; fermentation 10–15 days at 18°C; stainless steel; unoaked
- Style: Dry white, straw-yellow
- Origin: Santa Margherita, Italy (founded 1935 by Count Gaetano Marzotto)
The Wine That Invented White Pinot Grigio
Pinot Grigio is a pink-skinned grape, and for centuries its wine was made with skin contact, in the copper-toned ramato style. Santa Margherita — founded in 1935 by Count Gaetano Marzotto and named for his wife Margherita — changed that in 1961, pressing the grapes and separating the must from the skins at once so the wine stays pale, clean and delicately fruity. The white-vinified Pinot Grigio that resulted became the template the whole category follows, and the benchmark imported Pinot Grigio in the United States. The grapes grow on the pebbly, morainic soils of the Adige valley at elevation, hand-picked in early to mid-September. Browse it among our white wine range, or see the estate's wines on the Santa Margherita vendor page.
Tasting Notes
Nose: Clean and intense, with delicate orchard fruit. Palate: Bone-dry with an appealing Golden Delicious apple flavour at its core. Finish: Fresh, crisp and unoaked — the style in its original form.
How to Enjoy
The winery's own pairings are the classic Italian table: as an aperitif, and with seafood salads, fish and shellfish pasta and rice dishes, white meats, and grilled or boiled fish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio famous? It created the modern style: in 1961 Santa Margherita vinified the pink-skinned Pinot Grigio grape as a white wine — must pressed off the skins — and that pale, dry wine became the category's benchmark.
Is it sweet or dry? Dry — officially a bone-dry white, fermented 10–15 days and kept in stainless steel with no oak, at 12.5% ABV.
Where is Valdadige? The Valdadige DOC covers the Adige river valley in Trentino-Alto Adige, northern Italy, where the vineyards sit on loose, pebbly soils at roughly 985–1,475 feet.
The original, still the reference — buy Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio Valdadige online at Del Mesa Liquor, San Diego, CA.