We tasted last Thurs (10/15/20) the recently-released Giornata Vini Macerati Fatta a Mano set:
1. Giornata Falanghina PasoRobles (13.5%; http://www.GiornataWines.com) 2019: Med.gold slightly cloudy color; lightly
phenolic/resiny/vini macerati/pungent some floral/dandelions/zinnias rather complex beautiful nose; some
tart/tangy modest phenolic/resiny/VM lightly floral/dandelians bit earthy slightly tannic complex flavor
w/ light tannic bite; very long somewhat VM/resiny/phenolic lightly floral/pungent/zinnias rather complex
finish; a lovely example of VM with a nice balance of phenolic character and fruit. $33.33
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2. Giornata MoscatoGiallo PasoRobles (11.5%) 2019: Light yellow fairly clear color; very fragrant Moscato/
malvasia-like/muscatty very fragrant/floral light resiny/phenolic lovely perfumed nose; lightly tart
totally dry strong Moscato/floral/muscatty quite aromatic slight phenolic/VM slight mineral/earthy complex
flavor w/ very light tannic bite; very long strong floral/muscatty light phenolic finish; the Moscato
character comes thru loud & clear and the phenolic/VM character is minimal; the muscat character is not
strongly tutti-fruity and it reminds some of a good Slovene Malvasia d'Istriana; quite a lovely perfumed
white w/ a nice complexity from the light phenolics. $33.33
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3. Giornata Fiano PasoRobles (13.0%) 2019: Med.gold bit cloudy color; strong resiny/VM/phenolic fairly spicy
floral/zennias/marigolds/pungent complex beautiful nose; rather tart/tangy/bit tannic/austere some resiny/
VM/phenolic some floral/rustic Fiano/marigolds/pungent bit complex flavor w/ light tannic bite; very long
fairly phenolic/VM/resiny light floral/marigolds/pungent complex finish w/ slight tannic bite; noticeably
more phenolic but the somewhat rustic Fiano character peeps thru; quite an interesting VM. $33.33
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4. Giornata Vermentino PasoRobles (13.0%) 2019: Med.light yellow color; strong Verm/floral/gardenias/carnations
light phenolic/resiny bit earthy/mineral/Corsican-like lovely perfumed nose; rather earthy/Corsican/Verm
fairly floral/Verm/gardenias light phenolic/VM/resiny fairly tart lovely flavor; very long floral/Verm/
gardenias slight earthy/rustic complex finish; rather minimal VM character & lots of floral/Verm aromatics;
the VM/resiny character seems to give this wine a slightly rustic Corsican character; quite an interesting
expression of Vermentino. $33.33
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5. Giornata Ramato BassiRanchVnyd/PasoRobles (13.0%) 2018: Med.dark gold almost rose color; very strong phenolic/
resiny/VM some dusty light PG/floral/carnations quite lovely nose; strong rather tannic/hard/austere rather
tart/tangy lots of skin-contact/phenolic/VM austere light floral/PG some complex flavor w/ some tannic bite;
very long fairly phenolic/VM/resiny rather hard/austere/some tannic lightly floral/PG/carnations finish w/
some tannic bite; seems to be the most phenolic of the six VM; reminds a lot of the Kabaj GoriskaBrda Ramato;
will likely benefit a lot from age but a bit severe to taste this young. $33.33
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6. Giornata Bianco 60% Trebbiano/40% Friulano PasoRobles (13.5%) 2018: Light yellow/gold bit cloudy color;
very fragrant/perfumed/floral/fruity/spicy bit new leather car seats/inside of new baseball glove slight
phenolic/resiny/VM rather complex beautiful nose; lightly tart/tangy very light resiny/phenolic some
floral/gardenias/Friulano bit earthy/herbal some complex flavor w/ little tannins; very long lightly
floral/fruity/gardenias/Friulano slight phenolic/resiny quite dry but not austere or severe; speaks
mostly of Friulano w/ light phenolic/VM character; reminds some of the Kabaj Friulano but not as austere &
phenolic; probably my favorite of these wines by a slight margin. $33.33
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More sitzblusser from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. Giornata is the PasoRobles winery of Brian & Stephy Terrizzi, specializing in Italian varietals. This is a
recently-released collection of Italian white varieties made as (Bobby Stuckey) terms them: Vini Macerati.....
skin-contact whites. This boxed set was sold as a 6-pak unit for $200/6-pak. Unfortunately, their WebSite
does not contain any details on how each varietal was made, particulary the amount of skin-contact. I
believe they were all fermented in clay amphora, but that, too, is not detailed on their WebSite. From
the appearances of the cork, I suspect they were all hand-bttld. Have no idea of how much of each of these
wines they produced. They were all bttld unfined & unfiltered, hence some were distinctly cloudy.
These are what many folks would term "orange" wines, a term coined by Levi Dalton. But many "orange" wines
are not very orange and I much prefer Bobby's term "vini macerati" from his & Lachlan McKinnon's book on the
Wines & Foods of Friuli, an absolutely outstanding read. I use the term "phenolic" to describe the distinct
smell & taste of VM whites. The intensity of the phenolic character depends (I presume) on the length of
skin-contact during fermentation. A short skin-contact minimizes the phenolic character and allows the
varietal charact to peek thru. Extensive skin-contact leads to a wine dominated by the phenolic character at
the expense of any varietal character. Sometimes these can be severely austere and quite painful to taste
young. But they can also develop an amazing character with age in the btl. Alas, I'm not very experienced
to predict which ones will evolve in such a way. I have to rely on the track record of the producer.
As a whole, I liked this collection of VM quite a lot. Most seemed to have a nice balance between aromatic
fruit with enough VM/phenolic character to make them interesting. This is not a good group to get a good handle
on the varietal character of the various varieties, though. I taste enough of these varieties from Italy
that I have rough idea what their varietal character is supposed to be. In most cases, that varietal character
was evident, to varying degrees.
Anyway, a fascinating collection of VM to taste thru. Highly recommended.
Tom