Prima Materia Zinfandel, Kelsey Bench, Lake County
Tasting Notes
Striking aromatics of fig, olive, and black cherry making it the ultimate BBQ wine.
Vineyard
Zinfandel was one of our first vines planted in 1999 and then another block in 2004. It is actually a mix of DuPratt Zinfandel and clone 03 Primitivo, both on St. George rootstocks. The blocks are trained differently and planted in different orientations. California sprawl and quadrilateral training. Small amounts of estate Petite Sirah and Aglianico were blended in post-fermentation.
Winemaking
All blocks are hand harvested and fermented separately in stainless bins. Fermentations lasted 14-16 days generally and were straightforward spontaneous ferments after destemming. A touch of whole cluster was in the mix in 2019. Wood-basket pressed at dryness. About 12 months in barrel on average before spending 5 months in tank before bottling. Maintaining some of Primitivoâs phenolic bramble character was important, especially with the bassy blenders.
Vintages
2018 was a fire year, with lots of heat spikes and then a beautifully moderate fall. After 2018 and 2020, 2019 seems like some abstract dream. Sure, there was heavy rain, and enough heat to take harvest from 2 weeks late to one week early, and there was the week without electricity. But, there was no smoke, using stems was ok, we could use press wine, and we could still dream.
Label Image
Contemporary artist Bill Gian has been a friend of Prima Materiaâs for some time, and we were excited when he offered his âBlack Poppyâ painting to use. Much of Gianâs art explores his Greek-American heritage, and it felt like a worthy match to Crljenak Kastelankiâs own cultural identity inquiries, both past and present. Also, the black poppy is quite metal, with links to sleep, death, and Morpheusâ binary world of dreams as a child of Nyx.
Specs
Vintage: 50% 2018 and 50% 2019
Varietals: 85% Zinfandel, 8% Aglianico, 7% Petite Sirah
Vineyard Yield: 3.5 tons per acre
Aging: 10 neutral 225l barrels, mostly thin stave, and two breathable IBCs
Alcohol: 14.2%
pH 3.78
Total Acidity: 5.6gm/l
Production: 480 cases
Whatâs Included
3-bottles:
3x Prima Materia Zinfandel, Kelsey Bench, Lake County
Case:
12x Prima Materia Zinfandel, Kelsey Bench, Lake County
Prima Materia Winery grows grapes and crafts wine and food with an Old World voice that celebrates uncommon grapes and their unique histories here in California and abroad.
Prima Materia is the product of two decades spent in vineyards, wineries, and cooking in restaurant kitchens that ranged from Michelin starred to hamburger consulting. I planted most of Prima Materiaâs grapes at 1,450â of elevation in Lake Countyâs red volcanic soils, and every bottle hopes to capture a distinctive, Old-World-inflected voice in harmony with Californiaâs vast and evolving wine history. Prima Materia is a bottom-up adventure that begins with digging holes, pounding stakes, and constant time spent in the vineyard. I am proud to work within an ancient agricultural tradition, and that vast, sometimes cyclical history is central to Prima Materiaâs story and trajectory.
The wines are crafted in criminally small batches of two to ten barrels each. The winemaking and grape growing are intensively hands-on and sustainable, using stems and time, gravity and buckets, rather than fancy impersonal machinery or mechanized processes. Prima Materiaâs wines are unsulfured for much of their lives, allowing them to evolve as living things and new oak is rarely used. The wines are unfined, unfiltered, hand-harvested, and hand bottled.
The alchemical theme of Prima Materia is significant both in the vague sense of food and wine alchemy, or the alchemy of agriculture and growth, but also in the Jungian idea of alchemy being the interaction between us and the world we are exploring, both internal and external. Alchemy in this sense is the bold-yet-humble pursuit of knowledge through wonder, the natural and the personal, and uncovering hidden essences so that eventually art and craft might one-day meet.
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, ID, IL, IA, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
We planned ahead enough to have Alice ad WD send a few rat bottles to our recent NEOhio gather last Friday @chipgreen and his lovely wifeâs home. Popped the Prima Materia Zinfandel first.
While there were some Zin markers on the nose, it was not explosive out of the glass, more reserved. I did go back to it about an hour after it was popped and maybe it had a little more to offer. There was some briar and light berry aromas but also some florals. The palate was medium bodied with an almost Pinot Noir like character, certainly not a fruit bomb but more reserved. Someone mentioned it had some Scherrer - like characteristics (certainly not a bad thing there) which I could agree with. Nice mouthfeel and medium finish and went well with any of the snacks (cheese and crackers) A pleasant bottle that did not seem young nor past its prime - in a good place. The case price here is a good deal if you are looking for a Zin that is not brash and jammy. A nice start to a very nice evening.
That sounds pretty right-on. My operating puzzle when making it was thinking âwhat did a Zin field blend taste like in 1903?â so going with lower alcohol, sort of an old-school varietal typicity with some fruit but also bramble, earth, touch of leather, sort a restaurant glass-pour type styleâŠ
Does sound interesting, but no SC so matters notâŠ
anyways letâs see what Wine Enthusiast says:
90 Points. This wine shows a very fresh, potent, smoky-spicy profile thatâs nicely backed by ripe fruit. Elements of charred herbs and black pepper accompany plump strawberry and plum notes that capture the attention. Winemaker Pietro Buttitta blended in 7% Aglianico and 7% Petite Sirah grapes. JG 7/1/21
Note from SommSelect (retail):
âPrima Materia is a one-man operation up in Lake County (north of Napa Valley) crafts a range of wines in criminally small batches, and todayâs singular non-vintage Zin maxed out at 15 barrels. Itâs a lively, satisfying, high-altitude Zinfandel with European sensibility, meaning it has little in common with its jammy, excessively oaked California neighbors. Domestic winemakers love to talk about their Old-World inspirations, but Pietro Buttitta, the âone manâ in question, is among the few who actually walks the walk.
Half of the fruit for todayâs wine comes from the 2018 vintage, the other from 2019âthe latter of which underwent partial whole-cluster fermentation. Small amounts of Aglianico and Petite Sirah add depth and structure to the blend, without interfering with Buttittaâs primary goal of preserving the wild, brambly sophistication of Primitivo. The result is an invigorating, high-elevation Zin that had us refilling our glasses and asking why more California producers who work with the variety donât take a few pages out of Italyâs book. The goal was to highlight Lake Countyâs signature structure and up-front ripeness while incorporating texture, acidity, and savory notes more akin to the nuanced wines of the Old World. The fruitâwild blackberry, black plum, boysenberry, pomegranate, cranberry, and cherryâis certainly juicy, but not at all in a cloying way; rather, it mirrors the delightful freshness of just-squeezed, unripe forest berries. Accents of damp moss, sage, tobacco smoke, freshly turned earth, and black pepper add savory layers of complexity to a Zinfandel that reminds us how good this variety can taste when itâs not masked by aggressive winemaking and excessive ripeness.â
An interview May '21 in The Wine Write Magazine here
and another blurb in Wander with Wonder right here
@kaolis Wow, that SommSelect review is quite encouraging. The winemaking technique (by the described one-man operation) sounds like it made something very different from the CA Zins we often see. The specs of the blend are fascinating.
Would be amazing if the winemaker would show up on the board to take credit for his work! and maybe encourage some more sales! (hint hintâŠ)
@kaolis@pmarin
I would say the Somm Select review is pretty accurate if you read in-between the hype, haha.
The WE review would be more like how it was with the pasta and red sauce for me. It definitely turned into a bigger, bolder wine with that pairing versus no food or just cheese and crackers.
Yes, long day at the winery. Most of my wines run on the earthier, less jammy fruit side since that is my personal preference, and the vintages in this one sort of led in that direction anyway with 2019 being the last year with cool temps and plenty of rain! Imagine! Of note there is a good bit of Primitivo along with DuPratt Zinfandel in here, all from our little vineyard in Lake County at 1,500â elevation. Unfined and unfiltered but I like our wines clean and bright. What else can I add? Thanks!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Prima Materia Zinfandel, Kelsey Bench, Lake County - $65 = 29.54%
Pietro makes some good wines for the foodies out there. Iâve ratted a bottle and have purchased a couple cases of Prima Materia varieties, you wonât be disappointed. I havenât had the zin and hope something like this comes around during the cooler months over here.
I had the pleasure of sampling this zin at @chipgreen house last Friday evening, with my my wine buying friends @pjmartin and @msten.
If youâre looking for a big, bold fruit bomb Zin this one wonât satisfy your needs. If what you would like to add to your cellar is a varietal correct, elegant, Old World style zin grab some, you will not be disappointed.
The Prima Materia Zin has a medium body, leaning towards a Grenache or a Pinot Noir, with a nice complexity and smooth tannins. Dark fruits, plum and blackberry, along with some cherry/strawberry flavors. Add in a light spice, a little smoky flavor, and the result is a complex well balanced wine.
Enough acidity to make it a food friendly wine that would also be a great sipper on itâs own.
I found myself going back for additional tastes as our snacking and dinner progressedâŠI guess I liked it!
Prima Materia Zinfandel
As mentioned by my Casemates cohorts @pjmartin and @mrn1 , we had the pleasure of sampling the '18-'19 Prima Materia Zinfandel. @msten was also able to join us as we had an epic night of great food, wine and conversation with our better halves.
The nose was fairly restrained although I was able to detect raspberry and some darker fruits, along with a hint of oak.
The wine was also restrained on the palate initially. My first thought was that it wasnât very zin-like but as it opened up in the glass, it started showing more varietal characteristics.
Earthy notes, along with raspberry and plum dominate the palate with a bit of bramble and a judicious amount of oak influence. Lighter bodied than most Zins, I can understand the Pinot Noir comparison.
There was a light spice on the medium finish that ratcheted up a few levels when paired with pasta, meatballs and red sauce.
Pleasant on its own or with food, I would say this is a notch above most Tuesday night pizza wines, which makes it a great value at the case price.
I promised Alice pics and will post some below from my phone but Iâm afraid we were all about the group photos and werenât really thinking about the tilt the glass against a white background kind of shots that would help inform purchase decisions. Sorry about that!
@chipgreen@ScottW58 Havenât been there (sounds like a Bucket List place to visit â we are all welcome, right?). But Iâd guess there may be a few more cardboard cartons hanging out somewhere in a hallway or by the basement steps, ready to fill those two or three empty slots!
@losthighwayz
Those Kardiac Kids were aptly named as they broke my heart with Red-Right-88.
@ScottW58
Ha! Those are mostly the middle spots where I jammed the bottom legs of the top racks inside the top legs of the bottom racks in order to stack them. Most of those spots will only accommodate 375s.
@pmarin
By all means, if you are in the NE OH area you are welcome to visit! And yes, there is a whole room of overflow.
By the way, @PrimaMateria, your comments earlier about the blend (with Primitivo) and the earthiness you go for (and not the fruit-bomby-stuff) convinced me that I âneededâ this even though I have 3 other wine boxes to go pick up at UPS!
Wow, what a mess. I went to pick up my wine at storage, and the box was so weirdly overtaped with extra cardboard on top, that I asked the staff to witness me opening the box. The inside was all wet with wine, half the cardboard was collapsed, but what is very strange and frankly annoying, is that apparently 2 broken bottles were removed and replaced with a Winston Hill Red 2018. One, not what I ordered, two, too lazy to take the wine drenched cardboard out of the box and repack it in a clean box? Not sure exactly what my injury is or what my remedy is, but very unimpressed by the winery and will never order from them again.
@mcc36 That seems rather strange all around. If it broke in transit and then sent it back the winery should have replaced the bottles. But the wines come from WD, not the winery. I wonder if somebody at UPS just did that on their own initiative.
Regardless, @WineDavid49 and the CS team can help you sort it out.
@klezman@mcc36@Winedavid49
Very odd indeed! Any chance @mcc36 could post a pic of the mysterious replacement (Winston Hill) bottles? A quick search would indicate itâs not something made by the offering winery and not something previously offered here at Casemates (as far as I can tell), so Iâm not sure how bottles could have been swapped in at either site.
Also, if Iâm not mistaken, Winston Hill is Frank Family Vineyardsâ âEstate VineyardââŠvery nice wines.
Itâs likely a ups repack after they identified breakage. Those sometimes go to one spot and can get Mixed up. This likely has nothing to do with the winery nor Wcc origin.
I have pictures, although I could take a better picture of the 2018 Winston Hill Red when I go back to storage, but I donât know how to post pictures in this app.
Prima Materia Zinfandel, Kelsey Bench, Lake County
Tasting Notes
Vineyard
Winemaking
Vintages
Label Image
Specs
Whatâs Included
3-bottles:
Case:
Price Comparison
$360.00/Case for 12x Prima Materia Zinfandel, Kelsey Bench, Lake County at Prima Materia
About The Winery
Available States
AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, ID, IL, IA, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, TX, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Oct 17 - Wednesday, Oct 19
NV Prima Materia Zinfandel
3 bottles for $54.99 $18.33/bottle + $2.67/bottle shipping
Case of 12 for $154.99 $12.92/bottle + $1/bottle shipping
Sounds like a very interesting wine-canât wait to see what the lab rats have to say.
We planned ahead enough to have Alice ad WD send a few rat bottles to our recent NEOhio gather last Friday @chipgreen and his lovely wifeâs home. Popped the Prima Materia Zinfandel first.
While there were some Zin markers on the nose, it was not explosive out of the glass, more reserved. I did go back to it about an hour after it was popped and maybe it had a little more to offer. There was some briar and light berry aromas but also some florals. The palate was medium bodied with an almost Pinot Noir like character, certainly not a fruit bomb but more reserved. Someone mentioned it had some Scherrer - like characteristics (certainly not a bad thing there) which I could agree with. Nice mouthfeel and medium finish and went well with any of the snacks (cheese and crackers) A pleasant bottle that did not seem young nor past its prime - in a good place. The case price here is a good deal if you are looking for a Zin that is not brash and jammy. A nice start to a very nice evening.
@pjmartin
That sounds pretty right-on. My operating puzzle when making it was thinking âwhat did a Zin field blend taste like in 1903?â so going with lower alcohol, sort of an old-school varietal typicity with some fruit but also bramble, earth, touch of leather, sort a restaurant glass-pour type styleâŠ
Does sound interesting, but no SC so matters notâŠ
anyways letâs see what Wine Enthusiast says:
90 Points. This wine shows a very fresh, potent, smoky-spicy profile thatâs nicely backed by ripe fruit. Elements of charred herbs and black pepper accompany plump strawberry and plum notes that capture the attention. Winemaker Pietro Buttitta blended in 7% Aglianico and 7% Petite Sirah grapes. JG 7/1/21
Note from SommSelect (retail):
âPrima Materia is a one-man operation up in Lake County (north of Napa Valley) crafts a range of wines in criminally small batches, and todayâs singular non-vintage Zin maxed out at 15 barrels. Itâs a lively, satisfying, high-altitude Zinfandel with European sensibility, meaning it has little in common with its jammy, excessively oaked California neighbors. Domestic winemakers love to talk about their Old-World inspirations, but Pietro Buttitta, the âone manâ in question, is among the few who actually walks the walk.
Half of the fruit for todayâs wine comes from the 2018 vintage, the other from 2019âthe latter of which underwent partial whole-cluster fermentation. Small amounts of Aglianico and Petite Sirah add depth and structure to the blend, without interfering with Buttittaâs primary goal of preserving the wild, brambly sophistication of Primitivo. The result is an invigorating, high-elevation Zin that had us refilling our glasses and asking why more California producers who work with the variety donât take a few pages out of Italyâs book. The goal was to highlight Lake Countyâs signature structure and up-front ripeness while incorporating texture, acidity, and savory notes more akin to the nuanced wines of the Old World. The fruitâwild blackberry, black plum, boysenberry, pomegranate, cranberry, and cherryâis certainly juicy, but not at all in a cloying way; rather, it mirrors the delightful freshness of just-squeezed, unripe forest berries. Accents of damp moss, sage, tobacco smoke, freshly turned earth, and black pepper add savory layers of complexity to a Zinfandel that reminds us how good this variety can taste when itâs not masked by aggressive winemaking and excessive ripeness.â
An interview May '21 in The Wine Write Magazine here
and another blurb in Wander with Wonder right here
fwiw
@kaolis Wow, that SommSelect review is quite encouraging. The winemaking technique (by the described one-man operation) sounds like it made something very different from the CA Zins we often see. The specs of the blend are fascinating.
Would be amazing if the winemaker would show up on the board to take credit for his work! and maybe encourage some more sales! (hint hintâŠ)
@kaolis @pmarin
I would say the Somm Select review is pretty accurate if you read in-between the hype, haha.
The WE review would be more like how it was with the pasta and red sauce for me. It definitely turned into a bigger, bolder wine with that pairing versus no food or just cheese and crackers.
@kaolis @pmarin
Yes, long day at the winery. Most of my wines run on the earthier, less jammy fruit side since that is my personal preference, and the vintages in this one sort of led in that direction anyway with 2019 being the last year with cool temps and plenty of rain! Imagine! Of note there is a good bit of Primitivo along with DuPratt Zinfandel in here, all from our little vineyard in Lake County at 1,500â elevation. Unfined and unfiltered but I like our wines clean and bright. What else can I add? Thanks!
@kaolis sadly no Ks. either!
How much more are you saving by buying a full case?
(Note: tax and shipping are not included in savings calculations.)
Prima Materia Zinfandel, Kelsey Bench, Lake County - $65 = 29.54%
Currently at work but will post tasting notes this evening.
Pietro makes some good wines for the foodies out there. Iâve ratted a bottle and have purchased a couple cases of Prima Materia varieties, you wonât be disappointed. I havenât had the zin and hope something like this comes around during the cooler months over here.
I need more wine like a hole in the head, but this sounds like my style of Zin!
Pietro, Iâm also wondering what distinction youâre trying to draw with Zinfandel vs Primitivo?
@klezman sigh, yes.
Another SoCal splitz?
@rjquillin this happening?
@CorTot @merrybill @davirom
@CorTot @davirom @klezman @merrybill
Not without some interest shown in the next 72 minutes
@davirom @klezman @merrybill @rjquillin I can assist as needed. 4 max.
@CorTot @klezman @merrybill @rjquillin Iâm out on this one. Sorry.
@CorTot @davirom @merrybill @rjquillin I can do 3 or 4. Anybody else?
@CorTot @klezman
Ship to CorTot or Klez?
@CorTot @klezman
And, by the flip of a coinâŠ
CorTot
4 each
SE MI folks! You buy, Iâll take some. 3,4,6, whatever needed.
I had the pleasure of sampling this zin at @chipgreen house last Friday evening, with my my wine buying friends @pjmartin and @msten.
If youâre looking for a big, bold fruit bomb Zin this one wonât satisfy your needs. If what you would like to add to your cellar is a varietal correct, elegant, Old World style zin grab some, you will not be disappointed.
The Prima Materia Zin has a medium body, leaning towards a Grenache or a Pinot Noir, with a nice complexity and smooth tannins. Dark fruits, plum and blackberry, along with some cherry/strawberry flavors. Add in a light spice, a little smoky flavor, and the result is a complex well balanced wine.
Enough acidity to make it a food friendly wine that would also be a great sipper on itâs own.
I found myself going back for additional tastes as our snacking and dinner progressedâŠI guess I liked it!
Cheers!!!
Prima Materia Zinfandel
As mentioned by my Casemates cohorts @pjmartin and @mrn1 , we had the pleasure of sampling the '18-'19 Prima Materia Zinfandel. @msten was also able to join us as we had an epic night of great food, wine and conversation with our better halves.
The nose was fairly restrained although I was able to detect raspberry and some darker fruits, along with a hint of oak.
The wine was also restrained on the palate initially. My first thought was that it wasnât very zin-like but as it opened up in the glass, it started showing more varietal characteristics.
Earthy notes, along with raspberry and plum dominate the palate with a bit of bramble and a judicious amount of oak influence. Lighter bodied than most Zins, I can understand the Pinot Noir comparison.
There was a light spice on the medium finish that ratcheted up a few levels when paired with pasta, meatballs and red sauce.
Pleasant on its own or with food, I would say this is a notch above most Tuesday night pizza wines, which makes it a great value at the case price.
I promised Alice pics and will post some below from my phone but Iâm afraid we were all about the group photos and werenât really thinking about the tilt the glass against a white background kind of shots that would help inform purchase decisions. Sorry about that!
@chipgreen The cellar looks great! Looks like youâre enjoying the fruits of all that schlepping.
@InFrom
Thanks and yes, finally!
@chipgreen @InFrom
I want a basement!
Correction, wine cellar.
@chipgreen @InFrom @rjquillin and all labeledâŠIâm not worthy!
@chipgreen Forget the wine! Is that a Browns shirt? Browns fan since 1980!
@chipgreen
Wait?! I see two or three empty slots chip, slacker
@chipgreen @ScottW58 Havenât been there (sounds like a Bucket List place to visit â we are all welcome, right?). But Iâd guess there may be a few more cardboard cartons hanging out somewhere in a hallway or by the basement steps, ready to fill those two or three empty slots!
@losthighwayz
Those Kardiac Kids were aptly named as they broke my heart with Red-Right-88.
@ScottW58
Ha! Those are mostly the middle spots where I jammed the bottom legs of the top racks inside the top legs of the bottom racks in order to stack them. Most of those spots will only accommodate 375s.
@pmarin
By all means, if you are in the NE OH area you are welcome to visit! And yes, there is a whole room of overflow.
Back in Feb '20 I bought Prima Materia Barbera (still hanging onto 2). One of my better Casemates buy. In for 12.
I wish this one was available to Indiana. I would be in for a case.
By the way, @PrimaMateria, your comments earlier about the blend (with Primitivo) and the earthiness you go for (and not the fruit-bomby-stuff) convinced me that I âneededâ this even though I have 3 other wine boxes to go pick up at UPS!
/giphy invincible-gruesome-chance
Wow, what a mess. I went to pick up my wine at storage, and the box was so weirdly overtaped with extra cardboard on top, that I asked the staff to witness me opening the box. The inside was all wet with wine, half the cardboard was collapsed, but what is very strange and frankly annoying, is that apparently 2 broken bottles were removed and replaced with a Winston Hill Red 2018. One, not what I ordered, two, too lazy to take the wine drenched cardboard out of the box and repack it in a clean box? Not sure exactly what my injury is or what my remedy is, but very unimpressed by the winery and will never order from them again.
@mcc36 That seems rather strange all around. If it broke in transit and then sent it back the winery should have replaced the bottles. But the wines come from WD, not the winery. I wonder if somebody at UPS just did that on their own initiative.
Regardless, @WineDavid49 and the CS team can help you sort it out.
@klezman @mcc36 @Winedavid49
Very odd indeed! Any chance @mcc36 could post a pic of the mysterious replacement (Winston Hill) bottles? A quick search would indicate itâs not something made by the offering winery and not something previously offered here at Casemates (as far as I can tell), so Iâm not sure how bottles could have been swapped in at either site.
Also, if Iâm not mistaken, Winston Hill is Frank Family Vineyardsâ âEstate VineyardââŠvery nice wines.
@karenhynes @mcc36 @Winedavid49
Wow, if thatâs what it is then you scored some very expensive wine!
https://shop.frankfamilyvineyards.com/product/2018-Winston-Hill
@karenhynes @klezman @mcc36
Itâs likely a ups repack after they identified breakage. Those sometimes go to one spot and can get Mixed up. This likely has nothing to do with the winery nor Wcc origin.
@klezman @mcc36 @Winedavid49
YeahâŠif thatâs what was subbed in, Iâd give praise to the Wine Gods. There are other Winston Hill offerings, but all seem quite nice.
https://www.frankfamilyvineyards.com/wine/reserve/winston-hill-saviogvese-2018
@karenhynes @klezman @mcc36 @Winedavid49
You can break my bottles if thatâs what the replacements are.
Sadly, all arrived intact.
I have pictures, although I could take a better picture of the 2018 Winston Hill Red when I go back to storage, but I donât know how to post pictures in this app.
@mcc36
If you are on your phone and holding it like normal, the option doesnât appear.
But if you hold your phone sideways (landscape mode) then the option appears so you can upload photos.