Hello friends and salve amici miei! I’m trying out a few new things in 2026, one of which is a monthly update from inside the world of wine and Prima Materia Winery. 2025 was action-packed and 2026 promises even more, so let’s get into it:
The Year in Vineyard & Winery Consulting
Photo by Slice of Love Photography
2025 – From Aglianico to Cali Cab
It took 16 months of consulting work, but we finally open the Lamorinda AVA’s first official tasting room in Lafayette, California last month. This ongoing project consists of over 40 vineyards, managing ten different brands, and the older vintages needed a lot of winemaking compassion, but freedom fuels the creative fire. In some ways, the project was a timely opportunity to set aside my beloved Sangiovese, Refosco and Nebbiolo for a bit and focus on California Cabernet clones, Pinot Noir stems, terroir-driven Syrah and sandstone soils. Che bella!
Just before opening the tasting room I spent a day with Esther Mobley discussing the project and tasting through the wines for her SF Chronicle article last month on Local Vines. It is a new AVA that is only nine years old, so a good portion of my work has also been on the grower’s board and helping on the vineyard education side, soup to nuts. My own Aglianico, Sagrantino, Nebbiolo, Barbera and Negro Amaro are currently available there as well.
Wine Writing - A Taste of Friulano & Sangiovese
In 2025 I started writing more, both as a learning tool for my own winemaking and because it rekindles my own excitement through learning what others are doing with their wine. I was fortunate to receive a scholarship for the Wine Scholar Guild’s Italian Wine Scholar program (honors!) based on an essay about old vines. Later I spent a month finding vinous inspiration with the competition’s sponsor in the vineyards of the Veneto, followed by Chianti Classico, Montalcino, and Cinque Terre. It is hard to explain the amount of inspiration and knowledge that these trips bring to the craft in California. Here is a bit of writing on Friulano inspired by my time with Villa Bogdano 1880 in the Lison DOCG from that trip and a short essay on Sangiovese that was included in Jancis Robinson’s wine writing competition this year:
Ongoing Work
Last year won’t be a repeat in 2026, but it should indeed rhyme a little. With the Lamorinda AVA project up and running I am moving to part-time GM duties while continuing to coach the growers. The big news is that I am actively looking for a new winemaking project, preferably a big one, and a potential new home for Prima Materia if those two things can align. The wine industry’s correction is due to bottom out soon, and 2026 will be the year of opportunity.🤞🏼
I am also very excited to begin work on a regenerative vineyard project in Lake County. It will combine lots of vine rehabilitation work (utilizing all of that Simonit & Sirch training plus guidance from Francois Dal) along with no-till principles, insect and native plant optimization, and dry farming while on the slopes of the Konocti volcano! Keeping my hands dirty with some experimental viticulture and winemaking is the dream for me, not to mention getting to make wine from a new vineyard with a storied past.
Upcoming Events & Projects
I am committed to more wine writing in 2026, and I was incredibly lucky to receive a fellowship to the Wine Writer’s Symposium in Napa next month. If 2026 is going to be the year of new exploration, what better way than learning from some of the best in the business?
Unified Wine Grape Symposium in Sacramento. I’ll attend the seminars on the 28th & 29th, but be ready to party afterward
Vinitaly? Sicilia en primeur?
My friends are getting tired of me talking about Lambrusco all the time, but I am going to make the ask: Is anyone up for being part of a “California Lambrusco” project? Let’s create a three-sku line of lower-abv blends approximating the three main Lambrusco styles that would go into 650ml crown-capped bottles below four atmospheres and hit the shelf below $15 msrp.
My thesis is that varietal labeling has become dead weight and we need to revisit wines of style. Plus: bubbles are fun, Lambrusco is awesome, and we can do it all in stainless and in turn-and-burn fashion with on-point winemaking, blend smartly, be delicious and still have a sense of terroir. We need to keep old Lodi vines in the ground, we can integrate some bulk – the possibilities are endless, but largely depend on distribution. A business plan is in the works…🍾
Prima Materia Winery Update
After taking a soul-searching break in 2023, and spending 2024 producing wine solely for others, Prima Materia’s 2025 included the difficult decision to close our Oakland tasting room, and to keep our production small but very focused. Since my day-job has been making old-school California wine for the last year, Prima Materia’s wines were all about the technical flex and pushing against boredom. The P.M. wines range from crunchy Etna-style rosé and a soon-to-be disgorged pet-nat to reds that were inspired by a trip to Northern Italy that were all lightly dried – think baby Amarone. 2025 was a throw-back vintage in picking tons of grapes myself and babying them through the appassimento process, even including some Napa Valley Cabernet along with my usual Italian suspects like Montepulciano, Aglianico and Sagrantino.
Inventory-wise Prima Materia is still working through our best Nebbiolo ever and great Aglianico, super juicy 2022 Barbera and Negro Amaro, and we are rolling into 2021 Sangiovese with a new Sagrantino coming. Many of the wines are available by the bottle at our new Local Vines shared tasting room. Sadly our whites, rosé and Grenache are all gone! Like most other wineries at the moment, the discounts are no joke!
The wine industry is in a contorted state these days, and staying hopeful and limber with so many conflicting forces applying pressure is important. The initial shock is behind us though and we know what we know. The future is starting to come into focus. With that in mind, here are a few recent discoveries you should check out if you haven’t already.
Natural Wine as Protest Art (linked through Instagram) - These are the discussions we need to be having as members of the wine world and responsible parties, so thank you Andrew Sullivan for igniting the discussion. Read it and let’s discuss.
What’s the Problem podcast - Similar idea from a different place, but equally incisive.
Rosa Kruger - I discovered her viticultural work at the Old Vine Conference in October. I was deeply impressed in every way, and since grape growing is half (more actually) of the wine equation, voices like hers are more important than ever.
Jefford on Sagrantino - While I understand Darrel Corti telling me again that he “…hates that damn grape” last month, I also fell in love with its challenges and temperament. Big Sagrantino (think Tabarrini or Cantine Milziade) is a fuzzy, heavy blanket on a cold and grey day, and Andrew Jefford’s writing is the perfect mirror to that weighty moment.
Wine of the Month
Cantina dell Volta “BrutRosso” Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC
Method Champenoise Lambrusco? Si, per favore! Beautiful Lambrusco di Sorbara (the lightest type) that is full of cranberry, strawberry and roses with perfectly balanced acidity, just enough ripeness for medium body, and three years on lees. It is fresh as a daisy, perfect with or without food, and under $30. So many possibilities here = wine of the month.