Clime Wines makes both still and sparkling (Pet-Nat) Falanghina wines with grapes sourced from the Viani Vineyard in El Dorado County. I grabbed a few bottles of each after tasting the Arnot Roberts bottling at their pickup party and only finding a single bottle left when I finally made it over to buy some, haven’t opened one yet. There’s a short writeup on Clime by Esther Mobley here: Winemakers to Watch
Greco is my first preference of the three Rory mentions. Falanghina next, then Fiano, which I always find to be fruitier and simpler to my palate. All three are regular summer sips at my table.
fred
Good to see you in this little corner of CyberSpace again, Everett. Haven’t seen you around for some time. Hope things are OK with you?
I thought the A-R Falanghina was varietally correct, I found it, like many of the A-R whites, on the lean & eviscerated side, a bit too
severe on the palate for me. I much preferred BryanHarrington’s Falanghina because it had more richness and impact on the palate.
Just a bit more interesting.
Tom
Tom, Been great and traveling quite a bit. Yes, we have different palate preferences I know from reading your notes. I’m definitely an old world guy when it comes to whites, loving muscadet and vermentino probably the most. I think we both do enjoy Tablas Creek’s wines though. Going to France in March for a 3 week tour which will include visiting to lots of my favorite wineries in the Loire, Beaujolais, and the N. and S. Rhone. I live in Novato (Northern Marin County) now, having moved from Davis, 2 years ago. If you’re ever in the SF Bay Area let me know and we will find something in my cellar that we’d enjoy I’m sure. Arlene and I are going to be in your neck of the woods visiting the Pueblos near Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Mesa Verde area in May and we have some free time from May 11-15. I’ve never been to Los Alamos.
Everett,
By all means get in touch in May. I frequently give personal tours to visitors of our Bradbury Science Museum, one of the best Science museums in the Nation. Have lots of stories to tell about the exhibits…some of which are even true!!
Tom
If you don’t have Pierce’s Disease in the neighborhood, then Falanghina will grow like an invasive weed.
But once the Leaf Hoppers move to town, your Falanghina will be dead as a doornail in 10 days to two weeks.
FUN TRIVIA: Falanghina 01.2 was donated to Foundation Plant Servics and the Germplasm Repository by Carlo Mastroberardino.
I have just about zero experience with Italian cultivars from California, but my two best wines in 2019 were a sparkling Ribolla Gialla from Slovenia and a [still] Verdicchio di Metalica [from Italy].