Cal-Ital Tales (First of Four Parts)
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| Seghesio's 2002 Sonoma County Pinot Grigio is modeled after Italian Pinot Grigios, such as the 2002 Cesari. Chronicle photo by Craig Lee | |
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| Crooked Vine Livermore Valley Sangiovese shares store shelves with Italian Chiantis such as the Castello di Fonterutoli Classico. Chronicle photo by Craig Lee |
Seven years ago, the grape used in Italy to make Chianti seemed like the next big thing here (California). Farmers rushed to plant it; wineries rushed to bottle it. And why not? Americans love Italian food, so it seemed logical that they would want the sort of wines that go with it in the Old Country.
But critics panned many California Sangioveses and consumers didn't buy enough of them, so the Sangiovese boom went bust almost overnight. As growers rushed to bud their vines over to other grape varieties, the reputation of all Cal-Ital red wines took a big hit. Last year, Consorzio Cal-Italia, a parallel to the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) and Rhone Rangers groups that have done so much to publicize their favored grapes, canceled its planned tasting events and essentially ceased operations.
At its peak, the organization had 65 winery members and held an annual tasting at Fort Mason in San Francisco, including local producers of Italianesque food items such as cheeses and salami. Pinot Grigio, Malvasia Bianca, Tocai Friulano, Dolcetto and Nebbiolo wines joined Sangiovese in the offerings.
But after Sept. 11, 2001, the poor economy made the nonprofit Consorzio a luxury that even its members could no longer afford.
"We had to stop. The finances weren't there to support it," says Jim Moore, a Consorzio founding member. "Instead of going in debt, we decided to fold our tent and cover our losses."
Jim Clendenen, owner of Il Podere dell'Olivos in Santa Barbara County, says: "Some of us were really successful winemakers who were making great Italian wines. It didn't matter."
Nonetheless, the state is now in the throes of another Cal-Ital expansion, this time with Pinot Grigio. This varietal, which is called Pinot Gris in France and interchangeably in the United States, is the fastest-growing white wine in sales in the United States, according to industry experts.
By a huge majority -- about 8 to 1, according to industry estimates -- most Pinot Grigio sold in America is imported. Yet California farmers are planting it even faster than they did Sangiovese. The amount of Pinot Gris grapes crushed in California nearly doubled between 2001 and 2002, from 9,564 tons in 2001 to 17,335 in 2002, according to Phil Bradley, research manager for the MKF Group, a wine industry research firm located in St. Helena. In 2003, 26,932 tons were harvested.
Pinot Grigio/Gris is still minor domestically compared to Sauvignon Blanc; more than 10 times as many cases of the latter were shipped in 2002, according to MKF; about 68 times as many cases of Chardonnay were shipped. But sales of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are growing at only a few percent a year.
Some people deride Pinot Grigio as merely an inoffensive white wine for people on the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) bandwagon. Wineries can call the wine made from the grape either Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio. It often seems that lively, spicy versions with rich tropical fruit aromas are called Pinot Gris, following the Alsatian tradition, while California winemakers choose to call it Pinot Grigio when they're making a simple wine designed for unadventurous drinkers.
"I don't dare compare it to White Zinfandel, because it's not," says MKF's Bradley. "But the consumer base that likes White Zin likes Pinot Grigio, too."
Pinot Grigio's popularity leads Cal-Ital winemakers to hope for a revival. But while most are delighted to talk about their Cal-Ital pet projects, in almost every case, it's the French varietals Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Syrah, Pinot Noir that pay the bills.
Italian varietals are no Giovanni-come-lately in California; they've been around as long as the domestic wine industry. About 150 years ago, Italian immigrants racing to the Gold Rush brought vine cuttings from home, including Barbera, Sangiovese and possibly a cousin of Primitivo that became Zinfandel. The grapes provided the backbone of California's field-blend jug wines for decades.
In fact, you have almost certainly sampled Barbera, most likely in blended wines. Only recently did Syrah pass Barbera to become the third-most- planted red grape in the state, after Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. However, Barbera is a workhorse grape with little snob appeal; less than 1 percent of the total is planted in Napa and Sonoma counties.
"Barbera is one of the best blending grapes in California," says Robert Smerling, chairman of Renwood Winery in Amador County. "When you're making a Cabernet and it's a little weak, add a little Barbera. If your wine is too light in color, add 1 percent Barbera. There's a lot of Cabernet and Merlot out there that has a small amount of Barbera in it."
While California's early wine industry was dominated by Italian families who were happy with a quaffable everyday wine, others in the country have had a Francophile wine culture. Many think wine is for special dinners, which until recently meant steakhouses, which meant Cabernet Sauvignon. If Americans drank wine instead of beer or cola with their everyday pizza and pasta, the whole industry might be different.
By the mid-1980s, one of Italy's most famous winemakers thought he saw a change coming and began looking for property in Napa Valley. In 1987, Piero Antinori of the Tuscan wine house Antinori combined with international liquor conglomerate Allied Domecq to establish Atlas Peak Vineyards atop Atlas Peak in south-central Napa Valley, which had previously been considered too high, dry and remote for grapegrowing.
Antinori toured the mountain by airplane and decided the rocky, hilly terrain more than 1,500 feet above sea level reminded him of his home in Tuscany. He brought in Sangiovese cuttings from his family's 600-year-old estate. Buzz spread quickly, and the company says vineyard workers were offered bribes for cuttings.
With 520 acres planted mostly to Sangiovese, Atlas Peak was suddenly the giant in Cal-Ital production. Many wineries, especially those run by Italian families, had been selling Sangiovese with a fairly low profile for years. Cathy Seghesio says Seghesio Family Vineyards in Healdsburg still makes Sangiovese from vines planted in 1910 by her great-grandfather. In the early 1990s, though, Atlas Peak overwhelmed the small Cal-Ital market, releasing more than 20,000 cases per year by 1996.
Unfortunately, initially the wine wasn't very good. For many Americans who didn't realize that Sangiovese is the key grape in Chianti wines, their first experience with a bottle that said Sangiovese on the label was with Atlas Peak.
Many winemakers today still blame Atlas Peak for the market's disdain for Cal-Itals. Smerling says Atlas Peak was doomed from the start because California's conditions aren't similar to Tuscany's.
"There's not a whole lot of Sangiovese that's worth the money," Smerling says. "Atlas Peak made a big splash in the market and it was a failure. You're talking about a variety that doesn't grow as well here (in California)." Atlas Peak's reserve Sangiovese is much improved today. However, Antinori left the Atlas Peak project to concentrate on his own vineyard on the mountain, according to Atlas Peak spokesperson Megghen Driscol. And while not giving up on Sangiovese, even Atlas Peak now has other plans. Driscol says the winery is "working closely with growers on Spring Mountain, Howell Mountain and Mt. Veeder in producing some very exciting Cabernets. We believe that this will be the beginning of an exciting new era for APV with a focus on mountain- appellation Cabernets and that these new wines, along with our classic Sangiovese, will build an entirely new image and following with trade and consumers over the next few years."
| W. Blake Gray is a San Francisco-based writer. Originallyu published on  ©2004 |
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