The Five Massican Wines of 2024

Tasting notes and visual impressions of Dan Petroski’s latest releases

I first met winemaker Dan Petroski ten years ago, sitting down with him for a late-afternoon appointment at Redd Wood in Yountville, Calif., to taste his 2013s and 2014s. That tasting capped a day of visits with Steve and Jill Matthiasson, Cathy Corison, and John Lockwood. I was tired.

Dan, characteristically, was not. At the time he was employed full-time as red winemaker at Larkmead, but his attraction to fresh and crunchy Mediterranean wines had prompted him to start a side-hustle, Massican, focused solely on white grapes.

In the decade since, he has quit his day job to devote his full attention to that project. The lineup has expanded but remains white-wine-only with a strong commitment to Italian grape varieties grown in sunny California. The winery does produce a varietal Chardonnay, from Hyde Vineyard in Napa, and a varietal Sauvignon Blanc, from Sonoma and Napa Counties, but Mediterranean grapes are its flywheel: Ribolla Gialla, Friulano, Pinot Grigio, Falanghina, Greco di Tufo, Cortese, and Fiano, used variously in blends. (Also Pinot Bianco, which looks Italian if you squint.)

I’ve just tasted the 2024 vintage, released earlier this month. All deliver keen refreshment. My thoughts below.

Water Slide

In keeping with my new-ish approach to illustrating my experience of tasting, I’ve selected my above painting from November 2023, Water Slide. Dan’s wines are luminous and transparent, cooling, but not without fine details and a sense of propulsion, mostly driven by glistering acidity. The cool blues and purples of this painting suggest deep water, while green-gold animates the waves. The image has movement, weaving elements together like the varieties in a blended wine; unified but not indistinct. It also felt important to choose a painting with areas of pure white, suggesting a view through the image into the expanding plane.

Massican Annia White Blend California 2024

A blend of 42% Ribolla Gialla, 35% Friulano, 17% Chardonnay, and 6% Pinot Bianco sourced from vineyards in Napa and Sonoma. Faint yellow color. Stony, citric aromas, also lightly reductive (all of these wines like some air and warmth; don’t serve them too cold). A brisk attack delivers flavors of lemon and stone fruit. The finish is long but it’s not a coating wine. It feels linear, direct, weightless. $32

Massican Gemina White Blend California 2024

A blend of 49% Falanghina, 45% Greco di Tufo, and 6% Fiano sourced from Sonoma, Lodi, and Yolo. Pale gold color. Aromas of pear, lemon, and apple, with, again, faint reduction that swiftly resolves. On the palate I find pear nectar and pome fruits, quince paste, and screaming acidity. (The wine has a whopping 10.3 g/L total acidity and a pH of 3.1.) The finish is green-apple juicy, long and salivating. Don’t look at this wine without sunglasses. $38

Massican Pinot Grigio California 2024

Not a varietal wine despite the label, but a blend of 81% Pinot Grigio, from Sonoma, and 19% Cortese, from Lodi. The color is pale yellow with greenish glints. A fragrance of lime peel and salty preserved lemon segues to a sense of Mandarin orange. Weighty, almost coating texturally, substantial, with a correctly bitter finish. Lively, spirited, not your grandma’s P.G. $32

Massican Sauvignon Blanc California 2024

One of two varietal wines, the Sauvignon sourced from six vineyards in Napa and Sonoma. Watery yellow color with a green-hued fragrance: lime and its peel, grass. The flavors continue the theme, with citrus, herbs, and salt. The texture is glittery. (This wine has 7.2 g/L total acidity and a pH of 3.2; Dan likes his acid.) With air, and a day later, the fruit settles down and the wine feels more structured, savory; like a sofa stripped of its floral upholstery. $32

Massican Chardonnay Hyde Napa Valley 2024

The only single-vineyard wine in the lineup, with fruit from Hyde in Carneros. Green-gold color with aromas of creamy yellow fruit. The texture of this wine diverges from Massican type: smooth and satiny, with a weighty mid-section; think half-and-half versus skim milk. The flavors are lemony with tropical fruits (I wrote pineapple) with basil at the finish. Decent structure will allow it to age for a few years. Not chablisien, but neither is it urgently Californian, its signatures both warm and cool. $60

All wines were samples for review.