The return of Cal-Ital

By the early 2000s, Cal-Ital was dead. It was almost impossible to sell California made from Italian cultivars. During the following decade consumer interest in the phenomenon remained minimal and few sommeliers would consider such . Recently, however, there has been a renaissance of the category. But the return of Cal-Ital hasn't been easy. It's proven a study in resilience. It's also meant a shift in philosophy. While much of the original Cal-Ital movement arose from producers making wines such as Sangiovese as a side project to their more central Cabernet focus, today's Cal-Ital has meant a more complete shift in thinking. In the last several years, a handful of newer Italian-focused California labels have been launched, bringing breadth to a conversation that for a decade was maintained by only two or three producers.

Digging out of the Cal-Ital problem

California's wine industry was historically rooted in Italian immigrants bringing cuttings from their home country but after phylloxera and Prohibition, plantings shifted predominantly to French cultivars. Before 1980 varieties such as Sangiovese existed only in the historic Italian-Swiss Colony of the North Coast, along with other Italian varieties in vineyards maintained and expanded by Seghesio. Barbera had a presence throughout the state but did not enjoy the prestige of other Italian varieties. It was seen as an able blender rather than as a varietal wine in its own right.

In the 1980s and 1990s, however, a rush of interest brought Sangiovese to Northern California, made most famously by producers such as Robert Pepi; Atlas Peak in Napa Valley, co-owned by Tuscan winemaker Piero Antinori; and Ferrari-Carano in Sonoma. By 1997, 2,500 acres (1,012 ha) of the were spread across the state but the variety was primarily being made by vintners treating it as a side project while they focused on French varieties. Quality suffered. The unique needs of Italian wines were inimical to the techniques familiar to most California producers of Bordeaux varieties. By the start of this century, the almost two decades given to North Coast Sangiovese seemed inadequate to stabilise quality and critics were severe. Although producers in Southern California, such as Santa Barbara County's Palmina and Clendenen Family Vineyards with labels such as Il Podere and Vita Nova were also making Italian-inspired wines, critics looked to North Coast examples and declared Cal-Ital an experiment that had failed. Led by negative reviews, consumer interest all but disappeared.

Interest in anything Cal-Ital was so low that, as Uvaggio co-founder and winemaker Jim Moore puts it, 'you couldn't even get arrested'. Moore had been a winemaker for Mondavi in the 1990s assisting with research and development of new brands. In the early 1990s, he led a tasting for the Mondavi winemaking team showing wines from throughout Europe with the idea that the team would develop new side projects. In the midst of the tasting, he realised all the winemakers were fighting over who would make Rhône varieties. No one was looking to the wines of , so Moore took a chance and said he'd work with them. As a result, he established and made the wines for the Mondavi brand La Famiglia di Mondavi in the 1990s. After this he decided to start his own project. Leaving the pre-eminent California producer, Moore began making Italian varieties on his own in 1997, securing placements in top restaurants such as Berkeley's Chez Panisse and Yountville's French Laundry for his Sangiovese. By the mid 2000s, however, sales were difficult. Even so, Moore believed in the Italian concept and joined with partner (and Purple Pager) Mel Knox to launch the value-driven, Italian focused label, Uvaggio. 'I was proud we were 100% Italian-focused from our inception', Moore says, but he was never unaware of the difficulties of the Cal-Ital category. 'I figured if people were going to try them, the wines should be below $20'. With Moore's experience at Mondavi, he stands as one of the few winemakers in California to stick with Italian varieties from the early 1990s to today.

Palmina, too, struggled to survive the Cal-Ital slump. 'Those were really dark times, to be honest', Steve Clifton (pictured above right) of Brewer Clifton says. In 1995, when Clifton started Palmina, there were no other producers in California devoted entirely to Italian vine varieties. Mondavi had started his La Famiglia line with Moore relying on fruit sourced from growers also cultivating other varieties. Still, recognising something in the Santa Ynez Valley's unique combination of maritime influence with sun exposure, Clifton believed Piemontese varieties could work. It took time to convince growers to plant Italian vines, however. Finally in 1995 Clifton succeeded in finding a grower, the Honea family, to establish the first entirely Italian post- Prohibition vineyard in California. He launched his label out of a love for Italian food and wine culture and devoted it entirely to northern Italian varieties. By the end of the 1990s Palmina gained a foothold in the market, only to be hit by a massive drop in sales after 2000.

'Steve is the first to really embrace the whole philosophy [of Italian food and wine culture]. The wine is just one part of it', Brian Terrizzi of Paso Robles label Giornata says. Winemakers such as Terrizzi and Massican's Dan Petroski in Napa Valley both credit Clifton with paving a path for newer labels such as their own focused on Italian varieties. It was Clifton's persistence and creative thinking that opened the way.

With lack of consumer interest, sommeliers and buyers generally refused to even taste Cal-Ital wines. Determined to connect, Clifton had a unique idea. He began hosting late-night wine tastings in major markets throughout the United States. The idea was to pull in sommeliers wanting to unwind after their dinner shift by offering them a taste of some of Italy's best producers. 'The idea was to build credibility for Palmina by association. People wouldn't necessarily try our wines on their own. So I would set up tastings blind with Italian producers from midnight to 2 am around the country to help connect with the sommelier world'. Sommeliers were invited to taste blind a mix of traditional and modern Italian wines mixed with some of California's best examples, Palmina always included. Before the wines were revealed, sommeliers were expected to offer their views of the best wines aloud in front of their peers. The concept worked. Sommeliers would inadvertently class Palmina with traditional Italian wines only to discover their mistake and, as a result, find room for them on their wine lists. Over time, the strategy helped Palmina build inroads throughout the United States. In Northern California, during the mid 2000s, many of the producers who had made Sangiovese on the side turned away from the variety, replanting vineyards and instead doubling their efforts with Cabernet.

George Vare, however, took a different approach. Vare believed the Cal-Ital problem rested in too many producers jumping on a bandwagon without giving enough attention to quality. Along with business partner Michael Moone, Vare started Luna Vineyard & Winery in Napa Valley in 1996. At the time, the pair had analysed the market and recognised the same lacuna noted by Clifton. No California wineries were devoted exclusively to Italian varieties. So Moone and Vare purchased a 44-acre (18-ha) vineyard at the southern end of Napa Valley's Silverado Trail and immediately grafted it to Pinot Grigio, later also establishing Sangiovese.

Interested in understanding the best of Pinot Grigio, Vare travelled with his winemaker John Kongsgaard to the best regions for the variety in Europe. Not until they reached Friuli did they feel they'd found somewhere where climate conditions could give insight into Napa possibilities. They began returning to the region regularly. At the end of the 1990s the duo connected almost accidentally with the likes of Gravner, Simčičand Radikon and in the midst of it discovered . Enthralled by the variety, Vare took suitcase cuttings back to California in 1999 and grafted over his own home vineyard of Pinot Grigio, establishing 2.5 acres (1 ha) over the next two years in Napa's Dry Creek Canyon. Soon afterwards he also added Friuli's signature white grape Friulano.

Due to changes at Luna, he separated from the winery in the early 2000s and began his own small-production label Vare focused on experiments with Ribolla Gialla and Friuli-inspired white blends. George also invited young vintners such as Arnot-Roberts, Forlorn Hope, Massican, Ryme and Matthiasson to vinify small lots of Ribolla Gialla from his home vineyard. Wishing to avoid the issues he saw with Sangiovese, Vare selected vintners he thought would work distinctively with the variety.

Vintners Steve and Jill Matthiasson credit Vare with not only inspiring their own work in wine, but also paving the way for newer producers devoted to Italian varieties. Steve explains, 'George helped open the door to other [more unusual] Italian varieties. George lived through the Cal-Ital thing with Luna and was still a believer in Italian varieties here in California. So, with Ribolla Gialla, he put a lot of time into identifying wineries that would work with the variety and do something interesting with it. George refused to give budwood or sell wine to people he thought would bastardise it and go down the same path with it as Sangiovese. When George went for it with Ribolla Gialla, he had a role in reopening the door to other Cal-Ital varieties. I really think what made [newer labels focused on Italian varieties] possible was [Vare's] Ribolla Gialla'. Where Palmina helped build an avenue for known cultivars such as Nebbiolo, and even the much-maligned Sangiovese, or the neglected Barbera, Vare devoted himself to lesser-known .

Vare's interest was in promoting distinctive examples of a category in which he saw genuine potential. Seeking to connect with open-minded and influential sommeliers, Vare secured placements on exclusive lists such as Momofuku in New York City and the French Laundry in Napa Valley. At the same time, he helped make connections between sommeliers interested in more unusual varieties and styles with California producers making unique examples of them. The result was that in establishing Vare on prominent wine lists, George helped open the door to otherwise-overlooked Italian varieties and the existence of newer Italian-focused California winemakers.

During the 'dark days' of the anti Cal-Ital period, Moore persisted in his project helping to maintain a space for Cal-Ital wines, while Clifton and Vare also found a way to build inroads with the sommelier community. Together their work would help to open the door to a more successful return of Cal-Ital wines today.

Cal-Ital today

'There is a whole new group of young winemakers working with Italian varieties and doing a really good job', Clifton comments. 'Italian varieties used to be something people dabbled in but I don't think Italian varieties are something you can dabble in. You can't apply a red wine formula to them.'

What the producers who are now passionate about Italian varieties recognise is the reality that these grapes have their own particular needs. It doesn't work to vinify Nebbiolo like Cabernet, or Malvasia like Chardonnay. Where Nebbiolo and Aglianico carry high tannin levels, they can also be stimulating and fresh with the right treatment in vineyard and cellar. While Dolcetto and Barbera can sometimes turn out overly simplistic wines, done well they offer a refreshing rush of mid-palate flavour and juiciness that serves food well. The current wave of Cal-Ital winemakers strives to recognise the best conditions and techniques for their particular grapes.

Brian Terrizzi of Giornata makes wine from sites his wife Stephanie farms. 'Stephy has done a lot of studies on physical ripeness', Brian explains. When it comes to vinification, 'when to pick is the biggest decision that we make. We want the purity of Nebbiolo. Picking at the right time, when there is still acidity and that varietal character is essential for us.' What's key in the Terrizzi's approach is their attention to the specifics of the variety.

Massican and Arbe Garbe each devote themselves to Italian-inspired white blends. Motivated by his time living in Italy, Dan Petroski designed Massican to focus on aromatics and texture with freshness. Arbe Garbe owner-winemaker Enrico Bertoz also takes an interest in aromatics, producing Friuli-inspired white blends with a sense of crispness and aromatic purity. The focus on freshness is evident in Matthiasson's wines too.

After Vare planted his Ribolla Gialla vineyard Matthiasson took over as vineyard manager. In the mid 2000s, he travelled with Vare to Friuli to learn first hand the viticultural needs of the variety. While there, however, he discovered a style of winemaking that would inspire his own eponymous label. Matthiasson was already interested in making low-alcohol wines, something almost unheard of in Napa Valley at the time but in Friuli he recognised a new way to fulfil his interest.

'What I learned in Friuli was you didn't have to pick between richness and freshness. The good wines of Friuli can be pretty rich and full bodied and still with freshness. In Friuli they emphasised freshness without having to give up richness. In Napa the emphasis was all on richness [and freshness suffered].' Upon his return, Matthiasson began making a Friuli-inspired white blend bringing together Ribolla Gialla and Friulano from Vare Vineyard with and Semillon. Eventually he would also graft Ribolla Gialla, Refosco, and to his home vineyard in Napa Valley. While Matthiasson is devoted to the varieties, what he loves about them is the sense of freedom they offer. 'These are Napa Valley wines. I would never try to demonstrate their legitimacy by how they stand up to their peers in Italy. You can make Ribolla Gialla without being compared to Friuli because in Friuli they're all different. No two producers make it the same way. That's why we make these varieties [Ribolla Gialla, Refosco, and Schioppettino]. No one knows what they are so I can just make delicious wine.'

The Vare Vineyard has continued to be a source of inspiration for multiple vintners. Each year producers working with the site's Ribolla Gialla gather to taste each other's wines and share information on how they made the wine. George Vare died in 2013 but the new owners of his vineyard have chosen to maintain his planting of Ribolla Gialla and Friulano. Vare's suitcase clone has since been virus-treated by UC Davis. Plantings of the variety from Vare's cutting and from the Davis virus-treated vine have expanded to other sites in Napa Valley as well as the Russian River Valley, the West Sonoma Coast and Paso Robles. It has also spread beyond California: Ribolla Gialla has been established in New York's Long Island, and is currently being established in Willamette Valley.

In the Central Coast, Luna Matta Vineyard has proved to be an important source of Italian varieties for producers including Ryme, Villa Creek and Giornata. The site grows Fiano, Sangiovese, Aglianico and Nebbiolo.

California's Nebbiolo producers have also held an annual tasting for the last five years to compare wines and techniques. The group tastes each other's wines and discusses techniques used in vineyard and cellar. They also open examples of the variety made elsewhere in the United States. Both Washington and Arizona producers have established plantings of the variety.

Importantly, the Cal-Ital rebirth has correlated with increased interest in unusual vine varieties. [Hoorah, say we three co-authors of Wine Grapes – JR] It has only been in recent years that producers such as Idlewild have had the opportunity to launch and succeed focused only on Italian varieties. Idlewild has been able to work with a site originally planted in the midst of the first Cal-Ital boom of the mid 1990s to gain the advantages of established vines. Idlewild makes wines with a focus on varieties of Piemonte.

GIORNATA Focusing entirely on Italian varieties, Giornata makes their wines from sites they also farm. Giornata brings a thorough knowledge of to their winemaking, highlighting acidity while also steadily reducing their use of new to produce wines meant for the table.

Giornata Vermentino 2014 Paso Robles

Whole-cluster pressed. All stainless-steel tank and drum. Ambient yeast.

Fresh, spiced aromatics. Notes of mixed tropical fruit with no sweetness, light wax and pepper accents. Spry, lively and serious. Nice focus with a sense of richness without heaviness. (ECB) 13%

Drink 2015-2020

$25 RRP 16

Giornata, Ramato Pinot Grigio 2013 San Luis Obispo

From Bassi Ranch vineyard. Fermented and aged on skins for 90s days in amphora.

Dried strawberry and chamomile with bramble and coppery accents and a sense of freshness. Tactile, non-aggressive tannin that continues to be stimulating through a long finish. Has the structure to age and develop. (ECB) 12%

Drink 2015-2023

$35 RRP 16

Giornata Nebbiolo 2011 Paso Robles

From Luna Matta vineyard. Rose and violet with tobacco leaf and a touch of tar. Delicious mid palate, with a sense of freshness and a persistent finish. Tactile tannins full of tension. Focused with balancing acidity. Still taut. Will benefit from some time in bottle.Tannins more apparent and more tactile than in the 2012. (ECB) 14.3%

Drink 2017-2027

$45 RRP 17

Giornata Nebbiolo 2012 Paso Robles

Luna Matta vineyard. Notes of rose cream, spice, with leather accents and light smoke. Accents of iron, saline and chalk throughout. Nice sense of purity here. Taut, persistent, and textural tannin. Pretty and deft with a little more flavour and accessibility now than the 2011. Nice balance and persistence. (ECB) 14.5% Drink 2016-2027

$45 RRP 17+

Giornata Sangiovese 2012 Paso Robles

Luna Matta vineyard. Delicious. Rose petal and rose bush with a kiss of fig and cocoa. Supple and lithe with deft persistence and lovely balance. Pleasantly tactile yet silken tannins with mouth-washing acidity. Nice purity and length. Will age and develop nicely. GV (ECB) 14.5%

Drink 2016-2025

$20 RRP 17

Giornata Aglianico 2011 Paso Robles

Luna Matta vineyard. 33% new French oak.

Taut, fine-grained tannin. Iron and gunpowder with rose petal, red fruit, and light spice. Persistent and chiseled. Beautifully done. This is a food wine. Its flavours display when shared with a meal. (ECB) 13.5%

Drink 2016-2028

$45 RRP 16.5

Giornata Aglianico 2013 Paso Robles

French Camp vineyard. 10% new French oak.

Violet candy and perfume. Almost creamy mid palate. Mouthwatering length and a taut finish. Not quite as taut and focused as the 2011 Luna Matta Aglianico but still with good tension and a greater sense of vibrancy. Nice purity. Enjoy with food and give it air upon opening. (ECB) 13.9%

Drink 2017-2025

$30 RRP 16