In all honesty, I had no reason to visit Giornata when I was in Paso Robles in late March. Alder had already glowingly reviewed their new releases for his Cal-Ital article and I was supposed to be focusing on Rhônes. But the memory of their iodine-laced, rose- and cherry-scented 2019 Nebbiolo, tasted during my 2023 review of Paso, nudged me every time I looked at my itinerary. Finally, unable to resist any longer, I called Stephanie Terrizzi to see if she had time to run me through their line-up. Despite the fact that she would be freshly landed from a trip to London, she agreed.
A few weeks later I sat on Giornata’s patio in the middle of Tin City – an upscaled warehousing district – nose-deep is a glass of 2023 Il Campo Bianco. It was citrusy, briny, pithy, with an attractive floral bite. At $25, it is astoundingly good value – as are their Il Campo Rosso, OrangoTango and Carbonico – any of which I could have happily selected for the wine of the week. But it’s spring, and the Bianco naturally lends itself to the spinach, asparagus, fava beans, nettles, garlic scapes, pea shoots and fiddleheads that are heaped on farmers’ market tables across the Pacific Northwest, where I live. And food is what these wines are made for.
When Stephanie and Brian Terrizzi started Giornata in 2006 it was with the intention of making wine that would be a daily accompaniment for food (they later started a pasta company called Etto Pastificio). Key to that intention was keeping prices reasonable – something they have, surprisingly, seen pushback on. In 2012, Stephanie was told by a guest, ‘it’s hard to take you seriously when you don’t have a wine over $50’. While they did eventually raise the price of their Gemellaia Supertuscan-inspired blend from $35 to $50 in 2012 and then to $75 in 2019, they’ve kept the rest of their wines under $50. In an email to me Stephanie wrote, ‘We want customers to feel our wines (except the Gemellaia) are a value.’
In a world (and a country) increasingly focused on premiumisation, at a time when wine is seeing a swing back towards ‘special occasion’ beverage, their philosophy is one worth raising a glass to.
In line with keeping wine affordable, the Terrizzis have been in the same winemaking facility since 2012. Along with Field Recordings, they were one of the first wineries to set up in Tin City. They do as much of their own work as they’re able to, with Stephanie farming their vineyard and doing their bookkeeping and Brian making their wines and managing sales. At times, they even host their own tastings.
Most of the fruit Giornata works with is purchased but in 2009 the Terrizzis purchased an 11-acre (4.5-ha) property, CaNe Rosso, in the El Pomar District of Paso Robles. They planted four acres to Nebbiolo, Friulano and Trebbiano in 2015 and 2016, and another three to Sangiovese and Nero di Troia in 2021. They’re currently in the process of applying for Regenerative Organic Certification and, in line with regenerative principles, the CaNe Rosso vineyard is home to a slew of animals including goats, chickens, turkeys, horses, a Pyrenees, and sheep to graze the vineyard. One of the Terrizzi’s daughters raises black-face sheep for show and auction and is currently enrolled at Colorado State University, where she sits on their ‘meat-judging team’ – something that sounds exactly like blind-tasting competitions but for meat. She’d eventually like to raise and breed meat cattle on the property and will be working for a slaughter operation focused on local agriculture and regenerative practices (Sinton & Sons) this summer.
This week’s wine of the week, Giornata’s Il Campo Bianco 2023, is a blend of 40% Vermentino, 40% Falanghina and 20% Trebbiano. While the estate provides the Trebbiano, the rest of the grapes are purchased. The Vermentino is sourced from three vineyards – one in El Pomar District, one in San Miguel District and one in the Estrella District. The Falanghina comes from Castoro Cellar’s organic-certified vineyards within the San Miguel District. Stephanie calls their picks relatively early for Paso Robles, focusing on retaining acidity in order to keep the wine fresh and lively.
Once harvested, the Falanghina and Vermentino are bladder-pressed and the Trebbiano is basket-pressed. The pressed wines undergo fermentation separately in stainless-steel tanks with fermentation temperatures peaking around 70 °F (21 °C). The wines are then transferred to 75-gallon (284-litre) stainless-steel drums until being blended in January and bottled in February, with an alcohol level of 13.5%.
The 2023 vintage in California is what winemakers call a goldilocks vintage – not too hot, not too cold, average to slightly above average yields, with superb fruit quality. Sandwiched between the 2022 vintage – characterised by drought and heat spikes – and the 2024 vintage – also characterised by heat spikes with some producers reporting lower yields – 2023 is one to stock the cellar with.
In the US you can buy this wine straight from the Terrizzis for $25 plus shipping or from a number of retailers in California (The Wine Crush in Long Beach offers free shipping over $200). In the UK this wine is imported by Boutinot and is listed by Kwoff for £254.99 per 12-bottle case.
If you happen to be in the US, I highly recommend that you drink this wine with a spring-vegetable vignole (an Italian-style stew) served over Etto’s Ditalini pasta. Elsewhere in the world, you’ll have to use a different pasta company, but the combo would be just as good.
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