Sip & Savor: The Art of Amphora-vinification

The Art of Amphora -vinification

Paso Robles’ nonconforming winemakers are so ahead of the curve they have circled back some five millennia to an ancient vinification system in the theory that everything old is new again.

In recent years local winemakers have embraced winemaking in amphorae producing textural and nuanced wines. These large egg-shaped clay vessels tapering to a flat bottom were historically used in Georgia, its birthplace, and then spread globally from China to the Mediterranean area.

So, I guess it’s no coincidence that the Paso Robles History Museum downtown is staging an informative exhibit, “6,000 Years of Winemaking in Clay Amphorae,” curated by the San Luis Obispo-based Wine History Project. The comprehensive exhibit, which runs through February 28, 2022, includes maps, historical timelines, a selection of clay vessels, and an Amphora Wine Trail map.

In 2011 Paso’s Ambyth Estate, a winery focused on Rhônestyle wines, was the first winery to import amphorae from Italy. What started with a couple of amphorae has morphed into 20-some vessels mostly from Italy and a few from Australia and California, ranging in size from 350 liters to 750 liters. Founded in 2003 by Phillip and Mary Hart, Ambyth is also Paso’s first Demeter-certified biodynamic vineyard and winery.

The amphora’s renaissance began in Italy’s northeastern region of Friuli, mostly by a group of winemakers drawn to organic and biodynamic farming and natural winemaking practices.

These non-intervention style winemakers saw many benefits to amphora-vinification, such as its superior insulation, which gives wines its freshness, and the porous vessel that allows oxygen into wine twice as fast as wood barrels.

Gelert Hart, Phillip’s son and currently Ambyth’s winemaker, calls it happy oxidation.

“It’s the most neutral aging vessel that still allows the wine to breathe age into a classic old-world style,” Gelert explained in an email. He uses both amphorae and barrels for fermentation and aging red, white, Rosé, orange wines, and cider.

Indeed, it was Ambyth’s introduction of amphorae that sparked interest among locals. Winemakers such as Giornata Wine’s co-founder and winemaker Brian Terrizzi got his first amphorae from Ambyth’s second Italian shipment in 2012.

Terrizzi began using amphorae for some of his white Italian varieties. “It’s part of the natural movement, and we don’t add yeast or nutrients,” Terrizzi asserted. “Barrels give wine a lot of flavor and amphorae don’t, and the shape helps ferment wines faster.”

Many of Terrizzi’s whites are tinted in pastel colors of orange and pink. These “Orange Wines” (made by leaving skins of white wine grapes to ferment with the juice) are all the rage among millennials and popular with winemakers using amphorae.

We sampled 2020 vintages of Giornata’s orange-hued Falanghina, expressing a fresh cidery flavor; a citrusy Fiano; a peachy Friuliano; and a surprising Rosé of pinot grigio.

Sherman Thacher of his namesake winery is another true believer in non-intervention. “We practice super low intervention; we bring in the grapes, and they follow their own path,” said the winemaker, who tends to favor neutral oak and therefore likes the neutrality of amphora. “The wines retain a freshness.” For chenin blanc and cinsault bottlings, Thacher will use multiple vessels like amphora and neutral oak barrels for vinification.

Dave McGee, owner of Monochrome, also uses multiple vessels for vinification. For the 2018 Analog in a Digital Age marsanne blended with grenache blanc and viognier, McGee used both amphorae and stainless steel for vinifcation. “It lends more complexity,” he said.

While the 500-liter size is most popular, at Denner Vineyards, I came across two extremely large 7.5 hectoliter vessels, which Anthony Yount uses for Sixmilebridge and his label Kinero, wines that are produced at Denner winery.

From Denner, I savored two iterations of the Dirt Worshipper syrah. The 2013 vintage was fermented in stainless steel and aged in oak barrels for five months. Then the wine was split — half into amphora and the other half remained in oak. Both versions aged another 17 months. The amphora-aged showing herbal and olive tapenade notes against the voluptuous oak version lush with fruit and expressive tannins.

Epoch’s Jordan Fiorentini admitted she’s still in the experimental stage with the one amphora she acquired for Epoch Estate in 2013. “Amphora can be more oxidative, and my style is reductive winemaking,” she noted. She has tried making mourvèdre, aged 12 months in amphora and eight in oak barrels, and loves the wine’s earthy characteristics. So how do these local winemakers access their amphorae? Enter Manu Fiorentini, Jordan’s Italian-born husband and founder of Itek Wine, launched in Paso in 2010. Fiorentini was already importing oak barrels, concrete wine tanks, and other stainless-steel equipment. By 2012, he added amphorae when he saw them at Ambyth. His winery customers are located all over North America, but his largest clientele is here in Paso. “People here are more experimental with these vessels,” Fiorentini remarked. Plus, being local helps in terms of servicing the vessels. Other local wineries using amphorae include Clesi, Indigené, Desperada, Lone Madrone, Thibido, Derby Wine Estates, Pelletiere Vineyards, and Edna Valley’s Chamisal. 