Lamorinda 2024 Vintage Report - Contra Costa County
What a difference a year can make. In the span of just a few years we have gone from the notion that all California vintages are pretty...
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Vineyard and Winery assistance & Food and Wine consulting
Pietro Buttitta
Dec 1, 202210 min read
Vintage Report 2022 from Lake County, Ca.
Pietro’s 2022 Vintage Report from Lake County, Ca. Remember the old days when people said that California didn’t really have vintages?...
Pietro Buttitta
Feb 3, 20223 min read
Vintage 2021 - The Lake County Report
As the vines started growing, it was clear that we never really had winter rains. When I was pruning vines in April, the wood was bone dry w
Pietro Buttitta
Jun 17, 202112 min read
Sangiovese: A Couple of Attempts
Version 2.0 of the original, which is below. When asked to jot a few words down that define Prima Materia’s philosophy regarding...
Pietro Buttitta
Jan 26, 20216 min read
2020 (Sort of) Vintage Report - Lake County
What. A. Year. The wine world is a very diverse (though oddly compact) web, and grasping the totality of it, even just within California,...
Pietro Buttitta
Nov 4, 20193 min read
2019 Lake County Vintage Report
The 2019 vintage was a snapshot of extremes. A cold, wet and lingering Spring dropped over an inch of thunderstorm-powered rain June 1st
Pietro Buttitta
Jun 17, 20191 min read
The Wine Seminar
Pietro's 3-hour wine seminar covering tasting, descriptors, vineyard practices, winemaking, and food pairings.
Pietro Buttitta
Jun 15, 20195 min read
10 Ways Fish Sauce Can Make Our Western Cooking Better
10 ways to use fish sauce to make cooking a bit better
Pietro Buttitta
Jun 4, 20195 min read
A Fried Chicken Research Department Update
I recently spent several days deep in fried chicken R&D for a consulting project and thought I would share a few insights that might be...
Pietro Buttitta
May 24, 20192 min read
Recipe - Pistachio Olive Oil Cake
This recipe has gone through many iterations (as have I) since I started working it in 2007. It was originally based on recipes from...
Pietro Buttitta
May 22, 20194 min read
Learning in the vineyard
If you like wine, this is something cool, something almost no one ever sees. Think you know grapes do you? Well this is the modern...
Pietro Buttitta
Apr 21, 20193 min read
Grapevine Budding and Grafting at Novavine
Vine Budding and Grafting Friday night we had a guest lecturer, the very highly respected field graft expert, Daniel Robledo. He learned...
Pietro Buttitta
Apr 10, 20196 min read
The Restaurant Consulting Files - 10 Takeaways from a Recent Project
I recently opened a restaurant for an unprepared owner. He had bought into a couple others, but had never opened one. It was an...
Pietro Buttitta
Mar 12, 20197 min read
On Growing and Making Nebbiolo
I did the snoopy dance when I heard about it. Deep in Napa Valley, on a warm afternoon we gathered at Silenus to discuss making - wait...
Pietro Buttitta
Mar 11, 20194 min read
My Ode to the Oxtail
Here is a hint for those who like to cook - use oxtail. Yes, it looks like a giant denuded penis and yes, it is actually the tail which...
Pietro Buttitta
Mar 9, 20194 min read
Espelette - The Devil and the Details
I remember my first espelette. I am only about 50% on the anniversary, and sometimes the car is not where it was left, but I remember...
Pietro Buttitta
Mar 1, 20162 min read
Vintage 2014 so far - an August view from the vineyard
Yup, 17 days of 100F or above in July, so in conjunction with a little water nervousness it has been toasty here in Kelseyville. We are...
Pietro Buttitta
Feb 3, 20164 min read
Vintage Report 2010 - the longest year yet?
This was the longest year in so, so many ways. And also the most action packed, intense and almost cerebral, if a winery can claim that....
Pietro Buttitta
Aug 18, 20154 min read
Quacquarini Vernaccia di Serrapetrona = tasty red sparkler review
Well that was interesting. What we have here is a serious, unique sparkling red from central Italy that is a bit of a rarity and...
Pietro Buttitta
May 21, 201211 min read
A brief chef's biography
This is a rare personal post from 2012 - you have been warned. I hate eating and I hate food. Sometimes. I am getting over it. The best...
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