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"In my fit but aimless 20's I hiked in Europe's mountains, my backpack stocked with nutrition bars. At every turn I encountered hale and jolly locals picnicking on salami and triple-cream cheese. I decided then and there that pleasure must be nutritious. Here are my favorite foods for springtime meanderings, all now made in the USA." She asked sommelier Heather Branch to recommend wines for her perfect picnic. Their choice for a white? Palmina Tocai Friulano, "a crisp, charming white."
Steve Clifton, half of the team at Pinot powerhouse Brewer-Clifton, keeps this Lompoc-based label devoted to Italian varietals as a side project. This take on a native Friulian grape effort, which comes from Clifton's equivalent of an all-Italian varietal estate vineyard, outpaces many of its Italian counterparts. Intense aromas of bitter almonds, white flowers and dense peach, with a gripping finish. The lush texture will really blossom with a bit of time - or decanting.
Earlier this year, we had none-too-kind words for American Pinot Grigio. Would that we had tasted this specimen from winemaker Steve Clifton, also of Brewer-Clifton. From a spot in the Los Alamos Hills, he was getting an astounding 2 tons of fruit per acre, low even by Napa Cab standards. That was "too intense," so it's now closer to four. But still intense: With compelling peach pit and citrus notes, and a vibrant mineral backbone, this all stainless-steel aged wine has forceful, dense flavors that stand in bold defiance against the monotony of its Grigionic counterparts. He cooks! He surfs! He makes wine! "Nine winemakers from Santa Barbara to Paso Robles, who also happen to be dedicated surfers, converged at the beach to talk wines and waves with Wine Enthusiast. “Both surfing and winemaking have given me a relationship with nature, to understand its cycles, seasonal changes, how the earth moves and breathes,” said Steve Clifton of Palmina." Click here to read the complete article.
Wall Street Journal wine writers Dorothy
Gaiter and John Brecher recently wrote about the “hidden treasures”
that can be found on restaurants wine lists, calling their experience
“The Refosco Lesson”. Having enjoyed Refosco in their
younger years, they saw Palmina Mattia (55% Refosco, 30%
Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot) on a wine menu in a restaurant recently.
“We ordered it, of course, and it was outstanding, with lusty
earthiness and real vibrancy. We had never seen this wine before,
and there’s a good reason for that: The winery made only 280
cases and most went to restaurants. Only a small percentage found
its way to retailers.”
Jessica Forsyth met with Chrystal recently and put the history of Palmina in the context of Italian-American history: "...their winery in Santa Barbara County is as Italian as an American winery can get." "Palmina winery has come to be respected not only for the quality of its wines, but also for the ambassadorial approach to promoting Italian culture through wine." Click here to read the full article.
Corie Brown met with Steve at the winery: Palmina "makes an Arneis, from the grape variety native to Piedmont; Malvasia Bianca in the Friuli style; three vineyard-designated Pinot Grigios; a Tocai Friulano; a Traminer; a blend of Refosco, Cabernet Franc and Merlot he calls Mattia; two Nebbiolos; two Barberas; a Sangiovese; a Dolcetto; a Savoia, which is a blend of Nebbiolo, Syrah, and Barbera; a blend of Sangiovese and Merlot he named Alisos, after the vineyard where he sources the grapes; and a dessert wine called Santita made from Malvasia Bianca raisins. Why so many wines? Clifton smiles, chuckles, then shrugs, saying that, obviously, he hasn't been following a business plan. "We're excitable," he says, referring to the partnership between himself and his wife, Chrystal, who came to work for him in 2000. Business turned personal and they were married three years ago. "We find something we like and then we've got to add it to the list," Clifton says. "We were married in Friuli, so we've got to make Tocai Friulano. Weeding wines out, making fewer varietals, um, we're not very successful at that." Please click here to read the full article.
"Palmina is the remarkable operation of Steve Clifton, who produces 10,000 cases of Italian-inspired wines. Having done enough understudy/homework in Italy, he has met the challenge of finding single vineyards in California's Central Coast planted with Italian varietals. He is fashioning the finest dry Italian-styled whites in the new world!" Click here to read the full article.
Wine Ghetto Vintners Welcome Visitors Our local Lompoc Record came to visit and check out our Enoteca and other new tasting rooms here in the the Wine Ghetto. Read the entire article by clicking here. Drinking White After Labor Day Gabe Saglie in the Santa Ynez Valley News recently enjoyed a bottle of Malvasia Bianca: "Grown in the Ballard Canyon, this Mediterranean grape delivers exotic fruit flavors, like lychees and apricots. A wonderful fragrance gives way to nectar tastes and a lengthy finish. This wine cries out for barbecued chicken, spice Thai noodles or creamy gnocchi."
Writer Lettie Teague was on a mission to find some truly good wines. Here’s what she had to say about Palmina’s: “Of the Pinot Grigios I tasted, about 50 were Italian; the remainder were American, including one particularly good wine from California, the 2004 Palmina Alisos Vineyard from Santa Barbara County. Made by Steve Clifton of Brewer-Clifton winery fame, the wine had a crisp acidity and a lovely aroma of pears (most Pinot Grigios don't have much of a nose)….. Who knows, with more winemakers like Steve Clifton dedicated to the cause, perhaps one day the two words most often used to describe Pinot Grigio will be surprisingly good.” Click here to read the full article from Food & Wine Magazine, August 2005. That’s Amore! Local wine writer Sao Anash profiles Chrystal
and Steve’s mission at Palmina and their 10th year anniversary.
Along the way she samples a few of the wines, and reviews Alisos,
Pinot Grigio and Botasea Rosato. Click
here for the full article.
Chrystal and Steve met with Roberto Viernes of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on a recent trip to Hawai'i. We think Roberto enjoyed the wines! "The Palmina wines are the best Italian varietals made in California. Period. These wines aren't just for fans of Italian or California wines, they are for all fans of food and wine" |
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The
April 2008 edition of "O" had a nice and appropriate mention
of Palmina. In the Food section, writer Celia Barbour outlines her
perfect picnic: 
Top
100 Wines of 2007
On
the Menu: 
A
Recipe for Success
It'll
take more than amore to shine
Robert
Parker recently reviewed our wines for the August edition of Wine
Advocate:
Senior
Editor Kate Krader visited Southern California just in time for
the April 2006 edition. Along the way, she stopped here at Palmina
and had the following to say: “Then we head to Palmina,
one of the two tasting rooms in the wine ghetto that is open to
the public. It’s a sweet little place that makes you forget
you’re in an industrial park. The wines are predominantly
Italian varietals, including the 2004 Mattia, which is a chocolaty
blend of red grapes like Refosco. Mattia is a version of a wine
New York restaurateur Joe Bastianich made for Steve’s wedding
(the two friends are collaborating on a new project, Tritono, a
Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina). Another great thing about Palmina’s
tasting room: There’s cheese with the wines, like nutty Vache
Rosse – the ne plus ultra of Parmigiano-Reggiano – brought
all the way from the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.”
Food
& Home, Santa Barbara’s lifestyle magazine took a
trip through the county tasting “alternative reds”.
Laurence particularly enjoyed our Barbera: “..it is a wine
that makes you hungry for food and friends. I could happily drink
it everyday.” 
Italian
grapes star