The first of the bi-annual Working with Wine course was held in Brisbane on April 19. The program is held every two years with admittance to the course being offered to the best performers on some reasonably tough questions on wines of the world and wine industry current affairs. As if this exam were not enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, a blind tasting test of 3 wines is given to assess the level of taster and their ability to write a correct tasting note.
This year there was 160 places offered to the program nationally with 480 people applying for these positions.  In April those accepted into the program took the seminar. We had all been sent a seminar outline and the pre-reading on the three producers who were participating.
The first course was to be based on the wines of North-East Italy, specifically those of the Friuli, Alto Adige and Veneto regions.

With guest speakers from the representing producers Federica Pecorari of Lis Neris in Friuli, Christof Tiefenbrunner of Tiefenbrunner in Alto Adige and Alessandro Vellechi from Cantine Pra.  But I here was here to listen to the guru of Italian wine, Nicolas Belfrage MW author of Brunello to Valpolicella and its sequel  Brunello to Zibibbo and his latest ode to Italian wine The Finest Wines of Tuscany and Central Italy.
Unfortunately the course began two days after that nasty Icelandic Volcano decided to throw the travelling world into chaos and prevented two of the guests from leaving Italy.  So Nic Belfrage was to pontificate about all regions except Friuli, thankfully Federica Pecorari was able to make the journey.

So the day began with a line up of 5 white wines from Friuli, the region that borders Slovenia to the East and Austria to the north. From the Liz Neris stable, a Sauvignon (blanc), Pinot Grigio and the ‘Fiore di Campo’ a blend of Tocai Friulano 85% (native white variety), Sauvignon Blanc 10% and Riesling 5%. All from the 2008 vintage and all wines were steel tank fermented and matured in the same fermentation tank on their lees for 8 months with fortnightly battonage (lees stirring).  All wines were all very varietally correct with primary fruit aromas of passion fruit, lemon, and pears. With good length and texture, the only negative was that the wines tended to have a touch of pong due to the extended time on lees perhaps. The two 07s in the line up were fermented in large oak foudres and were lees stirred during maturation on lees in barrel. An interesting line up of wines and a great educational tasting experience. Also good to see these types of producers available in our market.
 
Next up were the wines of Tiefenbrunner from the Trentino-Alto Adige region. Culturally a unique area having once been a part of the Austrian Empire and annexed by Italy in 1919, the area is bordered by Switzerland to the North-West, Austria to the North and the Italian plains of Lombardy and Veneto to the west and south. Naturally these countries tastes have influenced the wine styles produced in this region and the varieties planted are a mixture of Italy’s Pinot Grigio, the Swiss Muller Thurgau, and Pinot Bianco and Chardonnay.  All wines were fermented in steel tanks with 4 months on lees. Considering the vineyards in this region are some of the highest in Italy and sit among the peaks of the Dolomite Mountains and shadows of the Swiss and Austrian Alps they were naturally all high in acidity with cool green fruit flavours, and spoke of the place where they were grown. Surprisingly, very clean and modern wines with pronounced primary varietal flavours.  The highlight of this line up was the two Muller Thurgau varietal wines one from 2008 and the other from 1996 and ageing very gracefully exhibiting some lifted herbal and aromatic fruit notes, great stuff from a 14 year old wine.
 
From the extreme north we moved to south to the Veneto region with wines from the Soave DOC made from the Garganega grape variety (a variety increasingly popular in Australia). These wines were fermented in large old French oak and the dry styles exhibited juicy lemon and apple fruit, wet stone and minerals and hints of spicy layers of nutty well integrated oak. Italy’s native grape variety answer to Chardonnay, great food wines and wines we should be drinking more of. Soave is also made in a sweet style called Recioto di Soave which is made harvesting the ripe grapes and then laying the grapes on mats and leaving them to dry out and raisin over the winter which they will then press in and ferment in the spring. The Pra Recioto di Soave Classico 2006 is deep golden in colour with rich toffee, honeyed baking spices, vanilla, burnt orange and herbal overtones. An incredibly complex and layered sweet white with great acidity balancing the rich ripe fruit. Italy’s great sticky will rival any Sauternes or Oz sticky, be sure to track one down for your next dessert!
 
Stay tuned for the low down on the red wines, Valpolicella and Amarone of the Veneto.