Stella Bella Otro Vino Margaret River Pinot Grigio 2023

This wine raises the old question of when does a Pinot Grigio become a Pinot Gris? If you go by alcohol – 13.3% – then it probably sits on the boundary between crisp (Grigio) and luscious (Gris) according to the Australian Wine Research Institute Pinot G Scale. If you go by taste, which is definitely on the more generous side, then you might be in the Gris camp. That is, until you come across the level of tangy acid drive on the finish. This is firmly in the Grigio camp. Lemon, apple tart, honeysuckle aromas. Opens up with a strong apple and citrus presence with just a light pear note, but how generous is that middle palate texture? This is such a food friendly wine. And then you get that lemon tingle brightness to close courtesy of aforementioned acidity. Nice. It caps off a very smart wine at an equally smart price.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic