2018 Giornata Moscato Giallo

Region: San Miguel District > Paso Robles > California
Grapes: 90% Moscato Giallo, 10% Falanghina 
Vineyard/Cellar Stats: organic farming, biodynamic practices, 800 feet elevation, silty clay loam soils, half-skin contact, semi-carbonic maceration, amphora, 11.5% ABV
Winemaker:  Stephanie & Brian Terrizzi

LADY IN CHARGE: Stephanie Terrizzi is a mom of two, and half of the Paso Robles wine project Giornata, with her husband Brian.  When she isn’t coordinating her twin girls’ ballet lessons and tennis practice, she is managing the vineyards and making the wine at Giornata.

We had the pleasure of stopping into Giornata in Paso Robles back in August and spent some time with Stephanie.  We learned about this lovely couple's dream to create wines from Italian grapes in California, while employing the sensibility and philosophy of Italian winemaking. They stick out in “Big-Wine” Paso with wines that are more Italian than Californian, with balance and subtlety rather than intensity, heat, and extraction. They pick grapes early, at lower sugar levels, and handle their must gently in the cellar, which successfully results in wines that belong on the Italian dinner table—acidic, low alcohol and balanced. What they describe as “the best wine grape for eating”, Moscato Giallo is wildly aromatic and bursting with floral flavors.  On the nose there are peaches, candy corn, and even juicy tomatoes, but the palate is bone dry, with zingy acid. It tastes like an exotic cocktail of tart apricot, passion fruit, sweet basil, and lemon-honey tea.  Super unusual and delicious, on its own as an aperitivo.