2020 Matthiasson Schioppettino

We recently tried a new wine varietal, Schioppettino. We are on the mailing list for Matthiasson and they have many unique varietals however, Schioppettino is likely one of the rarest with only two or three plantings in all of California. Matthiasson's own planting only represent two rows a a single vineyard. We tried their 2020 Schioppettino and it was so unique. Red fruit, flowers and a touch a cedar on the nose that was intriguing. On the palate it had medium body and was a juicy wine with red fruit, white flowers, light cedar wood, and a beam of fresh acidity that ran the length of the wine. At the end there were very light white pepper flavors and the tannins were so low as to be almost imperceptible although it still had a touch of structure. Just exceptionally drinkable and would be a banger pizza wine. Also, the alcohol was only 11% so it was refreshing and not hot at all.

So when I went back to their site, all the Matthiasson was sold out at this point (they only make ~1500 bottles/year) but I was able to find a distributor in the US for the most well known Italian producer, Vigna Petrussa, from the Friuli region where the grape comes from. I was able to order some that will be fun to try! If you get a chance you should definitely try Schioppettino, I think it's a wine even most non-wine people would enjoy. No one knows about it because it's so uncommon in the US and in Italy they made it illegal to produce in the 1970s (I don't know why) so it's popularity dissolved. Despite being mostly unknown, it has a long history and has written reports from the 1280s in Italy.