Italians Plant Geyserville Zin Clone in Puglia, Win Tre Bicchieri from Gambera Rosso

The long, tangled history of Zinfandel, aka Primitivo? is filled with yet another two worlds twist. 

Vintner Gregory Perrucci of Agricola Felline in southern Italy took cuttings from Ridge's 1880s vines in Geyserville and planted them in his vineyard in Puglia, pouring the wine he made from those vines this weekend at the ZAP tasting. (Yes, the grapes are certified organic). 

The winery has been the only non-American members of Zinfandel Advocates and Producers, since 1997.

I didn't get to meet him but did try the resulting wine - fantastico. So good in fact it won a Tre Bicchieri from Gambrel Rosso.

The winery also exhibited hard to find English language copies of the definitive Italian guide to Primitivo by noted authorities Antonio Calo and Angelo Costacurta. It was just published in 2022 by Kellermann and includes contributions from Gregory Perrucci. I can't wait to read it. (I have contacted the publisher on how one can obtain the English version. An Italian version is readily available to purchase online).

The winery is looking for an American importer. Contact: gregory.perrucci@agricolafelline.it.

The winery also won a Top Wine prize for a different wine, Primitivo di Manduria Giravolta, from Slow Wine in Italy, grown on limestone soils. The winery will be pouring that wine at the Slow Wine Fair in Bologna Feb. 23-26. Come join us there!

You can read more about the history of this variety in Italy on the Slow Wine website which has this excellent article on the region most devoted to this grape's revival.

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Organic Rock Stars to Pour at ZinEX This Weekend - Plus Special Seminars and Tastings

The wine world is waking up from fire, Covid, drought and floods and as one sign of its coming back to life is this weekend's stellar lineup off wineries pouring at the Zinfandel Experience in downtown San Francisco. 

Organic participants include: 

•  Bedrock (their Sonoma Valley estate is in the process of becoming certified - other vineyards are typically not certified and/or not farmed organically because Bedrock does not own them)

• Dashe (Some of the Mendocino single vineyard wines are)

• Grgich Hills (all certified organic grapes and certified "Made with Organic Grapes" winemaking and labeling)

• Quivira - estate Zins 

• Ridge (estate single vineyard wines only) (NOT PAGANI, for instance, which uses tons of Roundup - and which Robert Parker does not differentiate in that way, confusingly calling brands not specific wines green)

• Rusack - all estate

• Tres Sabores - one of the allstars for the ages, preserving precious old Zin vines in Rutherford

• Truett and Hurst (estate only, biodynamic grapes on those)

• Turley (estate vines are certified, purchased grapes from single vineyards are typically organically farmed when Turley controls the farming)

For a full list of events and activities, check out the event website. 

My Latest in Wine Business: USDA Funds $2 Million Beta Test Mapping Soil Carbon in Vineyards - Led by Jackson

 

Jackson Family (with 663 acres of vineyards in transition to organic certification), Ridge (with certified organic estate vines, non-estate wines are not), Spottswoode (with certified organic estate vine, non-estate wines are not) and other wineries are all part of The Soil Inventory Project (TSIP) grant which funds technology using local soil samples and computer algorithms to model soil carbon parameters. TSIP hopes to then pinpoint changes. One of the barriers to research has been the high cost of soil sampling and testing. TSIP hopes to reduce the cost of soil carbon sampling and advance research with low cost modeling methods based on large datasets.

Read story: https://www.winebusiness.com/news/article/266214

The Wine Industry's Best Green Conference - Napa Green's Climate and Wine Symposium (Formerly Napa Thrives) - Announces April Dates for 2023 Conference

Like many other attendees, I would have to say that last year's Napa Thrives conference from Napa Green was among the best educational experiences I had at any event. It was refreshing not to hear anything about green marketing, but to listen to leaders in actual green practices. 

Yes, I have been to other "green" events in regional gatherings, but this one outclassed them all for its world famous climate speakers–New Yorker writer and long time climate activist Bill McKibben of 360.org and Third Act, and Jonathan Foley of Project Drawdown, arguably's the nation's top climate impacts educator, as well as wine celebrities–Eric Asimov was one–and dozens of others who were more boots on the ground type experts. 

This year the conference takes place on two consecutive days in week during a three week period. 

Though speakers for this year have not yet been announced, I urge you to mark the dates on your calendar and plan to attend.

In the meantime, all the sessions from the 2022 conference are now available online. It's a wealth of knowledge and insights to enjoy at your leisure. Though I made it to four of the days last year, I did miss two days and look forward to catching up via the archived videos. Here are three of the six topics.

The 2023 dates are:

Wednesday, April 5, 2023


Thursday, April 6, 2023


Wednesday, April 12, 2023


Thursday, April 13, 2023


Wednesday, April 19, 2023


Thursday, April 20, 2023

See here for details.