recently got a chance to try some new/old wines of two local/central coast Cali producers who were hosting tastings in the LA area, posting brief notes to keep up the discussion.
Giornata
first heard about this producer when I was reading up for a trip to Paso Robles, and found Ken Zinn’s recs, and also Tom Hill’s recs of their Nebbiolo. The viticulturist is Stephanie Terrizzi, and winemaker her husband Brian Terrizzi; they also do Broadside. Ken has a great writeup through his link here:
They poured their wines recently at Tabula Rasa bar in Hollywood (http://www.tabularasabar.com), a wine bar with a very interesting wine list, many “natural” wines but not exclusively, and a nice low key vibe.
The lineup:
-2017 Il Campo Bianco. Pinot Grigio (60%) with Falanghina (30%), Vermentino, and Verdelho. They described this as a daily drinker white; to me, it was at least that and more, in retrospect one of my favorites of the tasting. Very crisp and refreshing with good balance between fruit and minerals, very drinkable now.
-2017 Vermentino. skin contact, aged in clay amphorae. An orange wine so could be polarizing; I’m still not sure how I feel about the wines for myself as a taster since I do agree with the viewpoint that the method can overshadow varietal/site characteristics. This seemed a bit closed at first but once it opened up, I could get a sense of its overall balance, well-made in the sense that the skin-contact characteristics weren’t overly dominant and worked together with the fruit flavors.
-2017 Pinot Grigio Ramato. spends 3 months on the skins. reminiscent to me of the few tastes of Rakidon and Cameron’s ramatos that I’ve had. Tart acidity with profound minerality.
-2015 Aglianico, French Camp vineyard. Juicy cherry flavors with hints of earth and tar. Liked this a lot more than an earlier vintage (2014) that I had tried months earlier, but both drank very well to my taste.
-2014 Nebbiolo Luna Matta. Grown on limestone. Brian Terrizzi spoke about how he had discussed with Kevin Harvey the topic of translating Piedmontese-style nebbiolo wines to California; with Rhys/Aeris, it seems like the focus is more on diurnal/nocturnal temperature variation (correct me if I’m wrong), whereas Giornata focuses more on the soil. Either way, I can’t argue with the taste of this particular wine — it was delicious, balanced, with great aromas of roses and cherries; to me, tasted old world in style. I think Stephanie Terrizzi helps manage or manages Luna Matta, and I’ve seen other great Cali nebbiolos from the vineyard like Castelli, Harrington, etc. This was the highlight of the tasting for me.
-2015 Aglianico Rosé. a fun rarity, apparently bottled only for friends and family. Brian said that there was some bottle variation in degree of fermentation given the pet nat style, but this particular bottle was really enjoyable, light and frizzante in style.
Also cool that they’re developing a line of dried pasta, called Etto (for the Italian portion of pasta, 100 grams or about 1/4 pound), made in California from American grain. They gave us a sample box of their casarecce, which we haven’t tried yet but am looking forward to having with a bottle of their reds.
Tercero
our very own Larry Schaffer was pouring at Uncorked wine shop in Hermosa Beach (https://uncorkedhermosa.com) last night. My first time there, the staff members were affable and it was bustling when we got there close to the end of the tasting, a lot of people there enjoying the wines, which was great to see.
-2017 Mourvedre Rosé, camp four vineyard. Juicy peaches, good minerality and depth with nice balance of rich body and acidity. Loved this as always, it was very popular at the tasting.
-2014 Grenache Blanc. not as familiar with grenache blanc, but this had a good balance of waxy richness and fruit with some herbal/floral depth. Saw this previously at Otium by the glass and had it last year, still drinking well to my taste.
-2017 aberration. 40% Grenache, 40% cinsault, 20% carignan; aged 4 months in steel. A really fun wine, crunchy fruits with some herbs and minerality. A crowd favorite at the tasting; the woman next to me was surprised to see a chilled red, she loved it. Very cool to see the experimentation here.
-2016 aberration, cabernet franc. Somewhat jammier than the ’17, has a more dark-fruited character with some olive flavor. Also enjoyed this chilled, I think this is still drinking well.
-2013 Mourvedre. Herbal and savory, very nice. I would have bought a bottle but the woman next to me had bought the last one at the shop…
-2012 Verbiage (rouge). GSM blend, one of my favorites of the tasting, a nice blend of the 3 varietals with good balance, still drinking young to me.
also had a chance recently to have tastes at restaurants of two pinots from Gros Ventre, made by Sarah and Chris Pittenger in El Dorado, but with fruit from the Sonoma coast. Ken Zinns had another great write up here:
I don’t see a lot of discussion of their wines here, but based on the 2 pinots I tasted (2015 Campbell and 2014 Baranoff), I really liked their style; not too much of the cola flavor that Sonoma pinots can sometimes have, but this distinctive pine/menthol flavor that I really loved. They recently posted about how Antonio Galloni of Vinous reviewed their wines favorably, which I think is well-deserved:
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