2018 Massican White Wine Gemina California

Gemina is a California white blend with Italian roots. The cuvée is about one third Greco di Tufo, a grape whose heartland is Campania and Apulia in southern Italy, and two thirds Pinot Grigio, made famous farther north, in the Veneto, Friuli, and Alto-Adige. Massican winemaker Dan Petroski sources his Greco from Sonoma County and his Pinot Grigio from Napa Valley.

The 2018 feels utterly in keeping with vintages back to 2014, when I first tasted it. Light colored and aromatically quiet, it suggests spring flowers and lemon peel, faint wet stone. The palate continues the theme and adds a shot of lime juice, whose linear acidity keeps the wine refreshing.

All of this makes me think of Italian seacoast, but the food pairings I crave depend on the temperature of the wine. Cold, I want it with southern Italian fare: squid, spaghetti alle vongole, scallops, prawns, white fish. When it warms a bit I want it with northern cuisine: rici e bisi, asparagus, lardo.

In other words: Cold, it’s Greco; warm, it’s Pinot Grigio. No matter the temperature, it would be great with oysters.