David Taub -- "Mr. Pinot Grigio" -- RIP

David Taub
(photo: The New York Times)

David Taub, a New York-based wine importer, had a brainstorm during the Carter Administration years. He thought Americans would take to a wine varietal called Pinot Grigio. At the time, Pinot Grigio was unknown in the States. Thanks to some very slick marketing, a wine star was born, and Americans embraced the light, somewhat fruity wine. It now dominates cheap, imported white wine sales in the United States. The story of Pinot Grigio's climb to commercial prominence is an interesting one, and is relayed in Taub's obituary in today's New York Times.

I lived in Italy just after Taub's campaign gained traction. I never saw a bottle of Pinot Grigio in Rome, probably because nearby vineyards produced passable, fresh whites. I didn't see a bottle in Tuscany, although I did have a quite fine white Chianti there. Pinot Grigio was made near the Alps, north of Venice. In those days, Italian wine was a highly local business; if Saul Steinberg had drawn a "Roman's View of the World," the region where Pinot Grigio was made would have been banished to some perceptual Siberia. (Pinot would not have even made a Steinbergian map of Florence, but discussion of Florentine provincialism is another story for another day.) Wines infrequently travelled out of their native region, and Pinot Grigio rarely made the cut.

When I worked in the retail wine business, Pinot Grigio had its following, especially among women. It still does. Pinot Grigio is not to my taste at all; in fairness, I generally don't like any of the white wines Italians export to the US. I also think Italian wines today are poor value for the money; French wines, surprisingly, can be much better buys. However, there is no changing a determined Pinot Grigio fan. For that entrenched taste, we have David Taub -- "Mr. Pinot Grigio" -- to thank.