Strangebird on the loose - Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo makes wine with a distinct brown colour. The wines are usually long lived and often reward cellaring for a decade or so. In some ways Nebbiolo wines resemble Pinot Noirs in the way that they age into wines with soft rich tannins. The wines have rich flavours with a nose most often described as 'tar and roses'. Some other flavours and aromas to look for are spicy, chocolate, leathery and earthy flavours. Think of a forest floor.
- See more at: http://www.vinodiversity.com/nebbiolo.html#sthash.jkclArCH.dpufNebbiolo makes wine with a distinct brown colour. The wines are usually long lived and often reward cellaring for a decade or so. In some ways Nebbiolo wines resemble Pinot Noirs in the way that they age into wines with soft rich tannins. TNebbiolo makes wine with a distinct brown colour. The wines are usually long lived and often reward cellaring for a decade or so. In some ways Nebbiolo wines resemble Pinot Noirs in the way that they age into wines with soft rich tannins. The wines have rich flavours with a nose most often described as 'tar and roses'. Nebbiolo makes wine with a distinct brown colour. The wines are usually long lived and often reward cellaring for a decade or so. In some ways Nebbiolo wines resemble Pinot Noirs in the way that they age into wines with soft rich tannins. The wines have rich flavours with a nose most often described as 'tar and roses'. Nebbiolo is notoriously difficult to grow well and for Australian red wine drinkers the first taste is often a bit unexpected, as the colour, aroma and mouthfeel are quite different from the Shiraz most of us were brought up drinking.

Nebbiolo takes its name from the fog (nebbia) that swirls around the Piedmontese hills at harvest time. All the literature suggests that not only is Nebbiolo difficult to grow well in Australia, but that it can be challenging for the palate of Australian wine-drinkers. We say 'Challenge away!'. The aroma of Nebbiolo is compared to ‘tar and roses’ and the variety 'typically produces rich and powerful wines with high levels of acidity, alcohol and tannins ... a distinct brown colour which is appropriately accompanied by flavours of earth, chocolate, leather and spice' says experimental wine website Different Drop.

 Multi-award winning winery Ballandean Estate produces Nebbiolo, and Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi has this to say about the temperamental variety:

'We planted our vines about 20 years ago and have had our ups an down with the variety. In saying that, we are planting a little more of this variety this year to top up our volume, so I guess you could say,we have faith in the variety

'The wine we produce at Ballandean Estate is usually quite tannic with the characteristic “orange” tinge of the meniscus and the flavour is bold and fruit driven.  It is not a wine to be taken lightly and definitely a ‘food friendly’ style.  Served with a flavoursome pasta dish and you would swear you were in Italy.

'With the success of the Strangebird wine trail, we are confident that our next release, 2014 Nebbiolo will delight the adventurous wine tasters of the region.'

We're looking forward to it, Leeanne! Other producers in the region include Boireann Estate and Symphony Hill. 

Some other flavours and aromas to look for are spicy, chocolate, leathery and earthy flavours. Think of a forest floor.
- See more at: http://www.vinodiversity.com/nebbiolo.html#sthash.jkclArCH.dpuf

Some other flavours and aromas to look for are spicy, chocolate, leathery and earthy flavours. Think of a forest floor.

- See more at: http://www.vinodiversity.com/nebbiolo.html#sthash.jkclArCH.dpufhe wines have rich flavours with a nose most often described as 'tar and roses'. 

Some other flavours and aromas to look for are spicy, chocolate, leathery and earthy flavours. Think of a forest floor.
- See more at: http://www.vinodiversity.com/nebbiolo.html#sthash.jkclArCH.dpuf

Strangebird on the loose - Barbera

Congratulations to Mark Ravenscroft. An article featuring Mark and Raven's Croft Wines appeared in the October-November edition of Queensland Smart Farmer.

'Most of my wines are made as natural as they can be. I use only the best quality grapes, thereby ensuring minimal use of sulphur. I also use a lot of wild yeast fermentation and do not add any powdered tannins. No animal products are used and my wines are therefore vegan friendly' Mark told Peter Scudamore-Smith.

The new Strangebird and wine trail map has been released at the Brisbane Good Food and Wine Show, so the Information Centre staff have been finding out a bit about some of the alternative varieties. 

Alternative varieties are defined as those that represent not more than 1 % of the total bearing vines in Australia This week we asked Peter from Boireann and Sam from Golden Grove to tell us about Barbera.

'Barbera is an Italian variety from the Piedmont region. It makes a deeply coloured wine with intense flavours. It is high in natural acid but low-ish in tannin consequently it is a good match for some food that would also go with white wine. It is a great match also for Italian dishes that don’t necessarily involve meat. We decided to grow Barbera because it’s Italian and we love all things (wine and food) Italian. We also have other Italian varieties - Sangiovese and Nebbiolo' says Peter.

'I decided to plant Barbera because of its Italian origin- I was looking at Italian varieties and decided to plant this one. There were a number that I could have chosen. The performance of this variety looked impressive and I was not wrong.It has performed really well for us here at Golden Grove' says Sam.

Wine-searcher (online @ http://www.wine-searcher.com/grape-27-barbera) reports that Barbera-based wines were a favourite with Savoyard army officers, who considered the wine a ‘sincere companion’, which helped them maintain their courage in battle.