September 17th, 2023Wine notes
with Clive Hartley
Fireside Wines
We have finally turned the corner on winter, but as any resident of this region knows, we are far from over the cold weather. So, there is still an opportunity to sit in front of an open fire and sip a good red. These fireside wines need to be bold and beautiful with plenty of guts and layers of flavour.
The Italians called these wines vino da meditazione. Meditation wine to sip whilst you contemplate monumental questions, such as the outcome of the impending referendum perhaps. Italy has a few contenders for these wines including the intense and high alcohol Amarone della Valpolicella from Veneto. This wine is made from semi-dried corvina rondinella and molinara grapes, and makes a more concentrated and intense wine. Ripasso is another technique in Valpolicella where a fresh wine is passed over the dried amarone skins which causes a refermentation. I always considered this a lighter style but was aghast recently to see a ripasso at 15% abv. We cannot use the term amarone or ripasso in Australia, but it doesn’t stop us using these techniques of drying grapes. One of the best in Australia is Freeman Secco Rondinella Corvina from the Hilltops region in NSW. Winemaker Brian Freeman uses a prune dehydrator to dry a proportion of grapes for 10 days. He then ages the wine in oak for two years.
Rich, powerful black cherry fruit-driven wines laced with new vanilla oak is the hallmark of a Barossa Valley red. The valley has some of the world’s oldest shiraz and grenache vines. Couple that with some sub-regional nuances and it is a complex and rewarding region to drink by the fireside. The Barossa Valley is split into three ‘Grounds’, Northern, Central and Southern which was based on their soil profile. The north, around the Ebenezer, Moppa and Kalimna wards gives you the most powerful shiraz. The Central Grounds includes the parishes of Bethany, Krondorf, Vine Vale, Light Pass, Gomersol and Marananga, has fruitcake, black-fruits aromas and is medium to full bodied. The Southern Grounds, in Lyndoch and Rowland Flat, is at a lower altitude and is slightly wetter and warmer than the other two regions. It produces more red than black fruits with soft ripe tannins.
Clive Hartley is an award-winning wine writer, educator and consultant. Want to learn more about wine? Try his Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) now available for purchase from Paradise Books in Daylesford or via his website – www.australianwineguide.com.au
