Pinot Grigio Day: Why 17th May Deserves a Bottle That Means It

Pinot Grigio has a reputation problem. It's the wine ordered reflexively, chosen for its inoffensiveness rather than its quality — and honestly, years of mass-market production haven't helped. But here at Vivat Bacchus, we believe every grape deserves to be judged on its finest expression, not its most mediocre one. Pinot Grigio Day, celebrated every year on 17th May, is the perfect opportunity to change your mind about this much-misunderstood white.

And we have just the bottle to do it with.

What Is Pinot Grigio Day and Why Does It Matter?

Pinot Grigio Day is an annual celebration held on 17th May, dedicated to championing one of the world's most widely drunk white wine grapes beyond its supermarket-shelf stereotype. It started as a push to highlight the genuine range of styles this grape can produce — from lean and mineral to lush, textured, and surprisingly complex.

At Vivat Bacchus, we've always championed wines with character and provenance. Pinot Grigio Day gives us a reason to shout about the bottles that prove the grape's real potential.

The grape behind the name

Pinot Grigio — known as Pinot Gris in France — is a natural mutation of the red Pinot Noir grape. The berries ripen to a pinkish-grey hue (grigio simply means grey in Italian), and the variety is remarkably sensitive to its environment. Grown carelessly and vinified at volume, it produces something thin and forgettable. Grown with care in the right soils, by a winemaker who takes their time, it produces something genuinely special.

The grape thrives across northeast Italy — the Veneto, Alto Adige, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia — and in Alsace, France, where richer, more aromatic expressions are the norm. It's the Italian style most drinkers know best, and it's from the Veneto that our recommended bottle this year comes.

Why Pinot Grigio got a bad name — and why that's changing

The story is a familiar one in the wine world: demand outpaced quality. As Pinot Grigio became the default white wine order across the UK through the 2000s and 2010s, large producers scaled up rapidly. The result was oceans of pale, flavourless bottles that gave the grape an unfair but understandable reputation.

That reputation is now shifting. A new generation of wine drinkers is asking better questions — about origin, winemaking method, sustainability — and the producers who have always done things properly are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Pinot Grigio Day is, in part, a vehicle for exactly that kind of re-evaluation.

The Bottle We're Raising on 17th May

If you're going to mark Pinot Grigio Day properly, it's worth doing it with a wine that earns the occasion. Not a default pour, but one with a genuine sense of place and the quality to back it up. This year, we're recommending the Cantina Ronca Pinot Grigio 2021 from the Veneto — and the reaction when people try it is reliably one of pleasant surprise.

Browse our full Pinot Grigio Day collection to explore every bottle we've selected for the occasion.

Where it comes from: Sommacampagna, Veneto

The Ronca estate sits in Sommacampagna, a small commune tucked into the rolling hills south of Lake Garda. The soils here are Morenic — sculpted by glacial movement over thousands of years — and they lend a distinct minerality to the wines grown in them. Cool breezes off Lake Garda slow the ripening process, preserving the grape's natural freshness and keeping the acidity lively.

It is, without exaggeration, a remarkable part of Italy to be growing wine.

How it's made

Cantina Ronca is a family estate that treats sustainability as practice rather than marketing. Their winery is solar-powered, they use only natural yeasts, and every grape is hand-harvested. No herbicides, no insecticides — just careful, considered viticulture.

After harvest, the wine spends four months ageing on its lees in stainless steel. This step is what separates it from the crowd. Lees ageing adds roundness and a subtle creaminess that lifts Pinot Grigio out of the thin-and-sharp register and into something altogether more interesting — textured without being heavy, richer without losing freshness. The result is certified organic wine made the way it should be: with patience and purpose.

Tasting notes

Crunchy pear and white peach lead, with a thread of citrus blossom and a clean, chalky minerality underneath. The lees ageing brings a gentle creaminess to the mid-palate — nothing heavy, just enough to give the wine real presence. The finish is long and fresh. At 14% ABV, that freshness is more of an achievement than it might sound.

This is a Pinot Grigio that prompts the question across the table: "Wait — what is that?"

Wine details at a glance

• Grape: Pinot Grigio

• Region: Veneto, Italy

• Vintage: 2021

• ABV: 14%

• Closure: Screw top

• Method: Certified organic, natural yeasts, hand-harvested, lees-aged

• Style: Crisp and fruity with lees-aged richness and mineral depth

Food pairings to consider

Pinot Grigio is one of the more versatile whites on the table. The Cantina Ronca 2021, with its additional texture from lees ageing, works particularly well with:

• Seafood — grilled sea bass, dressed crab, seared scallops

• Light pasta dishes — cacio e pepe, linguine alle vongole

• Soft cheeses — burrata, fresh goat's cheese, young pecorino

• Creamy risottos — the richness of the wine holds its own beautifully here

• Grilled chicken — simple, summery, effortless

Why we love this wine

Vivat Bacchus has always been built on the belief that great wine comes from people who care — about the land, the process, and the glass at the end of it. The Cantina Ronca family embody that philosophy. Their Pinot Grigio 2021 isn't just a good wine for a celebration; it's proof that the grape itself has far more to offer than its reputation suggests.

Pinot Grigio Day: A Reason to Raise Your Standards, Not Just Your Glass

Every year on 17th May, Pinot Grigio Day invites wine drinkers to look again at a grape they think they already know. At Vivat Bacchus, we think that's a worthwhile exercise — because the best wines are almost always the ones that surprise you.

The Cantina Ronca Pinot Grigio 2021 does exactly that. It takes everything the grape does well — freshness, versatility, fruit clarity — and adds a layer of craft that turns a reliable white into something genuinely memorable. Order before 17th May and we'll have it with you in time to celebrate. Shop our full Pinot Grigio Day collection, or go straight to the Cantina Ronca Pinot Grigio 2021 and crack on.