Cal-Ital

The term Cal-Ital refers to an Italian grape varietal that is grown in California, not in Italy as is traditional.  For the most part, the big red Italian grapes (Barbera and Sangiovese) don’t do well, and don’t get much respect outside their traditional growing grounds in Italy, but some Californian wineries have experimented with these varietals and a few have created wines worth drinking.  I have always been drawn to the Cal-Ital wines because Italian wine is what made me fall in love with wine, so I am always excited to see what California can do with my favorites.  I’ll admit, my curiosity had led to more disappointment than excitement, but I’m always glad to try California’s attempts at recreating the Italian style of wine.

While I mentioned that I have been mostly disappointed with my sampling of Cal-Itals, here are a few that I do enjoy and would recommend picking up should the opportunity present itself (which, sadly, the opportunity probably won’t present itself since most cal-itals are made in such small quantities that they are very hard to find).  But anyway, my favorite Cal-Ital to date is a Sangiovese from Santa Barbara County and a tiny winery named Ethan.  This Sangiovese is a bit more fruit forward than the traditional products out of Chianti, but at Ethan, they make it work.  I think their key to success (and the key to success for any Cal-Ital producer) is their ability to make the best possible wine from the grape, not the best possible imitation of an Italian wine they can from the grape.  Ethan Sangiovese’s production is tiny (only 50 cases), so unless you visit the winery, you are unlikely to find this one in stores, but should you ever spot a bottle, it is definitely worth a try.  Another Cal-Ital favorite of mine comes from Paso Robles and the relatively new Niner winery.  While they do make a Sangiovese, their Barbera struck me as the better all-around wine.  And, counter to the point I just made, their expression of Barbera was quite similar to the northern Italian version of the wine.  I picked up a bottle of their wine and want to let it age a few years to see how an older version compares to its Italian counterparts, but I liked what I had in the tasting room and am excited to try it after it gains a bit of age in the bottle.  My last wine Cal-Ital is a Dolcetto that I picked up from Tre Anelli (also Santa Barbara County).  I don’t know a lot about Dolcetto, not having had that much of it while in Italy, but again, like the others, I was struck by the quality of the wine.  Dolcetto means “little sweet one” in Italian, but this wine was anything but.  It was big, tannic, dry, and fruity.  I know that traditionally Dolcetto wines aren’t meant to be aged long, so I’ll have to look at opening this bottle here before too long and see if my memory of its quality from my little taste at the winery was merited.

Hopefully my statement saying I’ve been mostly disappointed with Cal-Ital wines won’t discourage you from trying them in the future because there are gems to be found.  If you are a fan of a particular Italian wine, go to your wine store and tell them that you want to taste a Californian example of that varietal, and hopefully, they will pick out something good for you.