Melbourne Tasting Group - Italian not Piedmont

[cuttlefish]

Nine of us Melbournites convened at the rather fabulously inexpensive Chinese eatery in Richmond, known as the Pacific Seafood House one Saturday afternoon. The theme: Italian wines, but from (largely) outside Piedmont, or more specifically, not Nebbiolo.

We ordered food as we went, judging what we needed to match the flights of wines as they came up.

We kicked things off with:
Contesa Pecorino d'Abruzzo 2023
13% alc. Aromas of sweet, waxy yellow florals, and an estery, tropical banana note. A light-bodied palate with fine acidity, and a faintly bitter finish. Flavours of watery white flesh fruits, with a hint of green and some citrus.

First flight: (accompanying some fried whitebait)
Inama i Palchi Foscarino Grand Cuvee 2020
A faintly buttery aroma at first, that opened over time to show subtle garden herbs. Savoury elements that I was unable to quite put my finger on. A fruit-sweet and honeyed texture on entry with a brilliant laserlike line of acidity supporting it. Such an excellent mouthfeel. A high-class white wine.
Garganega done right.

Gaja Alteni di Brassica 2018
This is 100% Sauvignon Blanc from Piedmont. Beautiful meadow florals aroma, and gooseberry. The palate is excellent, with throbbing acidity that is truly classy. Awesome length. Great wine.

Second flight:
Damijan Podversic Venesia Giulia Kaplja Bianco 2009
(Here, we ordered two different fish, one Murray Cod, and one Barramundi both simply steamed with asian sauce and a shredded greens garnish)
An orange wine, likely a blend of Chardonnay, Friulano and Malvasia. Some notable bottle development, here, with some autolytic character. Aromas of bitumen, burnt citrus biscuit, ginger, and a very subtle VA component playing a role. Fine, lasting acidity. A fantastic orange wine.

Third flight:
Ronchi di Cialla Friuli Colli Orientali Sottozona Ciallo Rossa 2021
12.5% alc. A likely blend of "Schioppettino" and "Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso". 12.5% alc. Significant savoury chicken-poo aromas, with cherry, some citrus notes, earth, and bitumen. On the palate it's showing as a little stripped; its light red fruit flavours drop away rapidly. Hmmm, unfortunate.

Passopisciaro Passorosso 2021
14.5% alc. This is Nerello Mascalese grape from Mt.Etna. Lots of dry cedar notes with subtle pretty red-berry aromas. It's a touch leafy, and a faint note of ink. Nice and gently pleasing on the palate.

Fourth flight: (Here we opted for a bit of lamb to accompany the reds braised with asian greens)
Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino 2006
Sangiovese Grosso. I first suspected this was mildly corked, but with breathing some lovely dry, earthy herbal notes came through. A quite firm and tannic palate with quite formidable spicy acidity, and a properly dry finish. I ended up quite liking this.

Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino 2010
Sangiovese Grosso. Quite a closed wine, with notes of bitumen and dry herbs, then with time some prettier red fruit aromatics, and dry flowers. On the palate, fine, sweet cherry-type fruits, and a wine that was certainly enhanced by food. Loved it.

Fifth flight:
Tua Rita Giusto di Notri 2015
Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Franc and Merlot in the blend. A savoury red-fruited nose, with tobacco and creosote notes. Still youthful, with great density on the palate. Powerful and rich. Firm and dry. An excellent wine crying out for European food.

We then skewed a tiny bit off theme with a couple of the following, but all wines lovely..

Sixth flight:
Wendouree Muscat of Alexandria 2019
A subdued nose of raisins and turkish delight. An oily palate entry with the balancing acidity kicking in to support it. I thought I detected the faintest sweet scent of buteric acid, oddly enough.

DonnaFugata Ben Rye Passito di Pantelleria 2021
This wine blew us all away. A gorgeously deep golden colour, pungent with apricots and exotically grapey. Soft and sweet on the palate with a super clean finish after a lasting, dainty sweetness. Like I said, it blew us away.

Tollana Botrytis Riesling 1995
Almost tawny in colour, with leathery, waxy botrytis notes. Lots of age evident, here, but the acidity sustaining the palate really well. Nice!

And that was that, all over in about 4 hours from start to finish, and all of us leaving very happy campers indeed!

[mychurch]

Yes, that was fun.

The 2020 Inami will be on my shortlist for Wine of the Year - just perfect for my palate.

The Tua Rita outshone all the other reds for me and the Passito really was drop dead gorgeous.

[I Love Shiraz]

A great diversity of wine. So much fun.

[JamieAdelaide]

I have a case of the Biondi Santi 2010. Was planning on leaving a few years as I’ve found my palate enjoys mature BdM. My tasting group just had a Brunello event and the Biondi Santi 2010 was quite shy. Probably not aerated. The Salvioni again ( over three vintages ) was wine of the night. Rarely fails in blind events.

That Gaja sav blanc is a ripper at 5-10. Pretty vineyard too.

[Ian S]

I haven't yet tried the Inama Soaves, but do intend to, and a supermarket chain over here stocks one or two of the single vineyard wines.

Plenty of brilliant Italian dessert wines, and Donnafugata a good producer with a broad range of table wines as well. As far as labels go, their mille e una notte (1001 nights) has a superb one.

Fair enough on the inclusion of the Gaja white - such themes serve to broaden our horizons, so having something unusual, despite being from the excluded region, feels well within the spirit of the challenge.

[mychurch]

The Gaja was mine Ian - I was hoping to bring a top white from Alto Adige, but I never quite made it into town and the choice at home was very limited. Lovely wine, but it needs a lot more time in the cellar

[Ian S]

The Gaja was mine Ian - I was hoping to bring a top white from Alto Adige, but I never quite made it into town and the choice at home was very limited. Lovely wine, but it needs a lot more time in the cellar

Not Tiefenbrunner's Feldmarschall by any chance? One of the cheekiest wines to put blind into a tasting.

[mychurch]

I like the Feldmarschall Ian, or I used to. Not seen it here, although it must be imported.

I was thinking more of Terlano or Lageder. Hard to find the interesting cuvées though at affordable prices.

[Ian S]

Agreed on availability, as even though the UK often a wide selection, brexit has certainly trimmed that back a bit. There are a few Italian retail outfits that have the paperwork set up to ship to UK (VAT paid), albeit also less than before brexit, and prices are no longer the super bargain they used to be (such shipments did avoid paying duty, but VAT was always paid at source - prices have gone up much more than the cost of duty)

Just one of those producers in my cellar at the moment, a solitary 2011 Cantina Terlan Pinot Bianco Terlano Riserva Vorberg. Probably ready to drink!