Grove Estate 'The Italian' Nebbiolo Primitivo 2010 (Hilltops)

Hilltops (draw a circle around Young in New South Wales) is a good region for a range of Italian red grapes. As the cherry and prune plum orchards in both regions indicate, there is a fair fit between Hilltops and the landscapes that produce Valpolicella and other good things from the Veneto.

Grove Estate are one of the more established Hilltops vignerons and labels, growing sangiovese and barbera as well as the grapes in this bottling. 2010 was a challenging Hilltops vintage, being the year the drought broke, with the rains coming part way through the red vintage. This wine, well-packaged in a Lean & Green lightweight burgundy bottle, shows little sign of washing out or warm-year over-ripeness.

The nebbiolo dominates the nose and starts into the palate, carrying along cherried and cherry pit notes. Light, bright, direct acid then gives way to a rounder, plum-flavoured finish, showing the primitivo (zinfandel) influence. While a bit of a wine-in-two-acts, there is still good drinking to be had here, especially with food that has a similar balance of acid and richer finishing flavours. I had it with a pasta dish using coppa, broad beans and a little fresh tomato.

$20, screwcap, 14%, purchase, website here.

Nocino

Nocino is one of my favourite things to drink after dinner. Gentle, complex, faintly herbal, more cola-like flavour than anything particularly nutty; my first batch is three year old and drinking well.

Nocino, or its French walnut-liqueur relations, is an easy thing to make. A delivery of a couple of kilograms of green walnuts turned up on the doorstep yesterday, so it was time today to put down another Nocino batch.

Pick at least 24 green walnuts before the inner shells develop (test this with a skewer, which should be an easy push-through). Halve them and pack into a clean glass jar of about two litres in capacity. As you fill the jar, add in 8 cloves, a cinnamon stick, one whole nutmeg, the zest of a large lemon and a vanilla pod. Fill the jar with vodka or other neutral spirit (I used a one litre bottle of Absolut this time) to cover the walnuts, spices and lemon zest completely.

Leave the jar in a sunny spot for 40 days. Then strain the infused spirit through fine muslin or coffee filter paper. Make a sugar syrup, cool it, and add the syrup to the strained spirit base until you reach the level of strength and sweetness you like.

Add to clean bottles and store for at least a month before sampling. For my tastes, this is best left for a year to mellow and smooth out, then drink neat as a digestivo. It will keep for years.

Castellari Bergaglio Gavi 'Fornaci' Cortese 2009 (Piedmont)

Sherried at the front, honey and lemon juice through the middle. Aromatics are quite subtle, lemon, pear and dry hay. Length is good, mostly about a salty, mineral character and the last bits of the mid palate. Like an aged cold and flu remedy, in a way. The kind of wine you like, but are not quite sure why.

Perhaps it is because I like the Cortese grape, something the Lost Valley winery in Victoria provided my introduction to.

This 2009 Gavi (a part of Piedmont close to Liguria) comes from the Castellari Bergaglio winery and the 'Fornaci' is a reference to a brick furnace that used to be found on their site. Tasted over three days, with and without food, and looked best on the second day.

Brought in by Trembath & Taylor.

Cork, purchase, $28-35 for the current vintage which is the 2012 pictured, 13% alcohol, website here.

Feudo Zirtari Inzolia Chardonnay 2011 (Sicily)

Lemon juice and curd, a bit of dry herb, a salty, briny lick of flavour, this attractively-priced Sicilian white blend of Inzolia and Chardonnay is a Costco offering. Not a wide, mouth-filling shape of Sicilian white, but there is solid flavour here, especially in the mid-palate. Length, not so much, but with a plate of sardines I think this might take some beating as a $10 white.

Gift, $10, screwcap, 13% alcohol.

Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2012 (Südtirol / Alto Adige)

Lots of flavour in this Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio, mostly in the pear (gris) spectrum. A little dried apple and the faintest trace of citrus, carried along by residual sugar to a finish that is astringent and slightly hot. Just under four grams per litre of residual sugar left in this, but it sticks out as much as the alcohol.

On the plus side, there is a screwcap and the price is reasonable if you are looking for a lighter style gris, or heavier style grigio, to pair with richer foods. Sound, but could have been picked a little earlier (or cropped a little lighter) and fermented out to dryness, for my palate.

Tasted with a simple, gentle Spring pasta dish of bucatini with broad beans, chilli, garlic, mint and fresh goats curd.

Imported by Negociants, purchase, screwcap, $20-$25, alcohol 13.5%, website here.

Querciabella Chianti Classico 2010 (Tuscany)

Brought in by Beaune & Beyond, this 2010 Chianti Classico from biodynamic Tuscan producer Querciabella needs some time to settle and mesh. Previous Querciabella Chianti releases have had a 5% boost from cabernet sauvignon, but this 2010 is all sangiovese. Oak use is a small amount new and the majority as one or two year old French barrels.

Gentle, subtle, even-tempered, this is a good example of mid-weight sangiovese suited to a wide range of foods. Lamb sausages went well; even better, a garlic and balsamic dressed green salad.

But there is something brittle about this wine, verging on unconvincing. On first tasting, it was all-akimbo, jangling mixes of fruit, acid and tannin, lacking harmony. It took time, and a spell for the decanter in the fridge, to tighten up and pull together. So if you have some of this, be careful about serving temperature, give it time in a decanter, or leave it alone for another year or so.

Worth a look closer to $30, questionable value at $45.

Purchase, cork, $38-$45, 13.5% alcohol, website here.

Vecchie Terre di Montefili Chianti Classico 2009 (Tuscany)

The Vecchie Terre di Montefili site, between Panzano and Greve, is high (550m), rocky and low in soil fertility. Aside from the incongruity of those cypress (which reminds me a little of a Jeffrey Smart painting), you can see the stone and almost feel the sparseness of these soils, holding back the natural vigour of Sangiovese.

This 2009 Chianti Classico is 100% Sangiovese and is deep, dark and rich, especially to look at, where it is purple verging on black. Usually that would be a possible flag of blending, but this is all Sangiovese and all about the warm 2009 vintage. The rich, ripe fruit, full of black cherry and dark bramble berry, is reined in with varietal tannin washing over the mid-palate and carrying through the finish of the wine.

For my personal tastes, I would prefer a little less ripeness here, more brightness and red fruited character, but this is a balanced wine and would be a good match for richer Tuscan dishes like a peposo beef and pepper potter's stew. A good t-bone grilled over rosemary would suit this too.

Purchase, cork, $32-$40, 13.5% alcohol, website here.