Freeman Rondinella and Corvina ‘Secco’ Altura Vineyard 2017
$65.00 inc. GST
Freeman’s flagship savoury Italian-inspired red blend from Australia’s only plantings of Rondinella and Corvina grapes. In a generous glass this mid-weight Secco displays garnet red hues and attractive enveloping aromas of spiced berries mingled with earthy cacao aromas and lingering umami notes leading to a mellow balanced palate. This mature deceptive wine is modelled on northern Italy’s classic Ripasso-styles, opening as a lighter red then revealing its true form – beguiling flavours draped over a savoury tannin frame. With an elegant captivating charm it will continue to evolve for many years yet.
Description
The philosophy is to develop a wine style reminiscent of the traditional Italian Amarone and Ripasso red wines that are complex and savoury while also retaining characteristic fruit-driven flavour.
True to Italian tradition a portion of the grapes are dried – conveniently in a neighbour’s solar-powered prune dehydrator – and added to the fresh grapes during fermentation. Subsequently, the wine is aged two years in selected old oak barrels to mature the wine rather than impart oak flavour. It is bottle aged for an additional two years before release.
A selection of rondinella and corvina varieties were dried slowly for up to 10 days, the desiccated grapes added to the remaining harvest for fermentation. The young intense tannin wines were aged separately in old oak barrels for two years.
Additional Information
| brand | Freeman Vineyards |
|---|---|
| size | 750ml |
| vintage | 2017 |
Reviews / Awards / Ratings
“Savoury appeal. Mellow flavour. Assertive tannin but in an integrated way. This is good. Dust, chocolate, leather, sweet-sour cherries, tar. The flavours show some development but in a positive sense; this will be good to go anytime from now and over the next ten years. Tannic kick, kitted with savoury character, is of particular note.” – 93 Points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront.
“Brian Freeman – a former university wine science professor – is doing remarkable things with his eclectic Hilltops vineyard.” – Huon Hooke, Good Food Guide.
“Deep, dark red colour with black tints and no real purple remaining.
The bouquet has some of the bitter Italian herb notes of the 2016 Freeman Corvina Rondinella, but is more evolved and more complex. The wine is full-bodied and very firm on the palate, with lashings of tannin, and the vermouth or bitter herb notes run right throughout the wine. An unusual wine which needs to be judged on its own merits as it has no peers in Australian wine. It makes more sense with hearty food than on its own. A high quality wine. The bottle tasted in October was apparently not a representative sample”Gold medal and Top 50, 2018 NSW Wine Awards_Huon Hooke
