Le Coste Pinot Grigio delle Venezie

Wine: Le Coste Pinot Grigio delle Venezie.

Grape: Pinot grigio

Region: Northeastern Italy

Vintage: 2010

Price: $9.99

In the glass: Le Coste Pinot Grigio is a pale citrine color with a clear, bright core going out into a translucent edge and clear rim definition with medium viscosity.

On the nose: The wine has a lovely white fruit fragrance right off the bat with a sort of hypothetical white cran-raspberry and green honeydew melon melange, then pear skin and light citrus notes, and finally a supple minerality underlying.

On the palate: It is a crisp and softly acidic wine with excellent white fruit delineation and sweetish underlying citrus and pear and applesauce character. There’s excellent balance in this wine, fluidly mixing the acidity with the fruit and the citricity through the midpalate and into a nicely lingering finish that should satisfy even the savviest of tastes.

Odds and ends: With the recent record-setting heat in the Las Vegas Valley, we need something refreshing if we are to drink wine. One of the cleanest and leanest types of wine that refreshes the palate in the summer heat is a delicious and crisp pinot grigio, which also is one of the favorite wine varieties in the United States. Brands such as Santa Margherita and Cavit lead the way in giving Americans a choice when they “graduate” from drinking wines made from white zinfandel, but they are quite austere. Le Coste is more approachable and widely available in the market at a reasonable price. It is classic in every aspect and comes from vineyards not too far north of Venice, so there’s a romantic aspect to this wine as well. It also is from the very fine 2010 vintage. Chill it to less than 50 degrees and drink as an aperitif by the glass or in the company of sauteed shrimp. It is good now through 2012.

Gil Lempert-Schwarz’s wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.