Out Of The Bottle
With David Ellis
2008 Calabria Private Bin Aglianico & Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvee
There probably wouldn’t be more than a dozen Australian makers
produce the rare Aglianico, a full-flavoured and elegant red that
originated in Greece and found its way into Southern Italy a couple of
millennia ago.
The ever-adventurous Bill Calabria at Westend
Wines in the NSW Riverina has cleverly mastered Aglianico, just
releasing a 2008 that’s got black cherry and ripe plum aromas and
coffee and smoky notes on the palate, together with what Bill likes to
call “Italianesque tannins.”
It will be interesting to see how
it fares in the market-place here, as even in Italy, Aglianico is not
grown much outside the Basilicata and Campania regions, yet being at
home in very warm to hot areas it could thrive in several of our such
regions.
If, like Bill, you too are a bit adventurous, match his
2008 Calabria Private Bin Aglianico (at just $14.95) with one of it’s
homeland’s favourites – spaghetti alla puttanesca (strangely it means
“prostitute’s spaghetti,”) whose flavour-some sauce is made of garlic,
olive oil, tomatoes, anchovies, capers and chilli. One For Lunch
Western Victoria’s Blue Pyrenees Midnight Cuvee is one of
Australia’s favourite home-made Methode Traditionelle sparkling wines,
and so-named after the Chardonnay grapes used in a trial harvest in the
1980s were picked under a midnight moon to avoid daytime heat, and thus
deliver the fruit in optimum condition.
The 2008 that’s now
available lives up to the label’s reputation as a party-room favourite
– and like those early experiments the grapes for this were also
harvested at night, but under floodlight rather than moonlight.
If you’ve a party in sight, this one’s good value at $30 with its lively flavours and fresh acidity.
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