The Wine Insider - vineyards, winemaking, and the business of wine

This was a fun discussion with Deborah Parker Wong, editor of the U.S. Slow Wine Guide which includes my Prima Materia Winery. We discuss Lake County, a bit of Alchemy, soils, and then take a deep tasting dive into our Sagrantino, Refosco, and Negro Amaro.

⁠www.pietrobuttitta.com⁠

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This is a deep dive into all things Barbera wine with Paul Robinson of Bottivino and Pietro Buttitta of Prima Materia. We held a 2-hour online tasting that generated a lot of discussion and questions as people tasted along. Paul handles the sommelier perspective and historical angle in Italy while Pietro discusses the California history, vineyard life with Barbera, and how it acts and ages in the winery. There are many approaches, and Barbera is one Italian grape that can be pretty compelling in California as well!

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We tackle Sangiovese in our ongoing series, talking about soil types, how California besmirched this beautiful grape in to 90's, why it is so challenging in the vineyard, and what the future may hold. You can learn more about our specific bottling of it at www.prima-materia.com.

⁠www.pietrobuttitta.com⁠

Barbera is a unique grape with special qualities that make it quite suited to California. Here we talk about it in the vineyard, a little about it in the Old County, its nature in California's sunny climates and its odd history as well. You can learn more about our specific bottling of it by visiting www.prima-materia.com

⁠www.pietrobuttitta.com⁠

We dive deep into our newest wine club release, talking about vineyard and winery practices and tasting our newest club selection with owner, winemaker, and grower Pietro Buttitta. Take a deep dive into Negroamaro, Grenache, Chardonnay, a red blend of Sangiovese/Primitivo/Dolcetto, and the unique style of Pinot Grigio Ramato from Friuli. You can learn more about the wines and vineyard at www.prima-materia.com

⁠www.pietrobuttitta.com⁠

This informal "class" traces the general history of Italian grapevine planting in California, both North and South, with part 1 focusing on Sangiovese, Barbera and Nebbiolo, the importance of the Italian Swiss Colony, the work of the UC system in 1880-1890, and eventually the amazing planting by Guasti in Cucamonga. It is a very lose and general history for a casual group tasting at the Napa Valley Wine School, but it gives some flavor to the development of the wine industry up to Prohibition, and what those grapes are up to today.

⁠www.pietrobuttitta.com⁠

Part 2 continues our wine-based historical narrative from Prohibition on, and includes comparative tastings of Primitivo, Refosco, and Aglianico. Thanks for listening and you can check out the wines at www.prima-materia.com

⁠www.pietrobuttitta.com⁠

Big thanks to Dan Dawson the Wine Advisor (www.dawsonwineadvisor.com) for hosting a night with Prima Materia at the Napa Valley Wine Academy. We spend some time discussing the unique attributes of Lake County as a growing region and then get into a comparative tasting that compares our Sangiovese, Barbera, Nebbiolo, Refosco and Aglianico and similarly priced representatives from the Old World. We also dive into some agricultural details, clonal and rootstock aspects, and a few other tasting details. You can check out the wines at www.prima-materia.com. Enjoy!

An early-morning checkin covering the 2019 wine vintage thus far in Lake County, discussing harvesting and approaches to making rosé, heat and viticulture, stem inclusion in fermentation, Aglianico clonal differences, the 2018 vintage and smoke issues and a few other topics

This episode is a deep dive into sulfur use at the crusher, during aging and at bottling with some contestation of both commodity winemaking and natural wine. As a note, yes I do make some sulfur-free wines, yes Prima Materia definitely embraces the value proposition and ethos of "natural winemaking" or minimal intervention, and it fully condemns the marketing misinformation arm of natural wine and slavish ideologues brandishing erroneous chemistry glosses.