2022 Massican Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley, California, USA

Massican is the passion project of multitalented vintner Dan Petroski, who also oversees the cellars of Calistoga’s historic Larkmead Vineyards. The entire lineup is comprised of fresh, pure, mineral-laden whites loosely based on the coastal wines of Friuli, and they read like cool watercolor seascapes to Larkmead’s warmer-toned renderings. It may seem unusual that the poster child for “new California” and its counterculture spirit be simultaneously responsible for classically sculpted Napa Cabernet, but Petroski toggles between the two modalities like a perfect bilingual—a skill that earned him the title Winemaker of the Year 2017 in The San Francisco Chronicle.

Petroski launched the label in 2009 as a means of connecting to California’s immigrant viticultural heritage and to his own family’s Italian roots. Inspired by his favorite blends from the likes of Borgo del Tiglio, Kante and Ronco del Gnemiz, he vinifies Ribolla Gialla, Friulano, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc as well as the southern Italian variety, Greco di Tufo. After ten years working with these varieties, he has developed a strong relationship with the vineyards where they grow and now relies more on “feel” than on any analytics such as pH, TA or brix. He ferments and ages the wines separately before making his final blends—in a combination of stainless steel and oak, depending on the grapes.