Giuseppe Quintarelli 'Primofiore' IGT 2007 (Veneto)

This is the entry point red from famed Amarone producer Quintarelli. There is Corvina and Corvinone here, but not Rondinella or Molinara grapes. Bringing up the rest of the blend is some Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Some of the fruit spent time racked and boxed, as per Amarone method, prior to crushing and fermentation.

The name of the wine, 'Primofiore', means first press. Fruit destined for Quintarelli's Amarone barrels is crushed with the free-run juice sent to Amarone and some of the first pressings sent into the Primofiore. A kind of reverse Ripasso, in a way.

I wanted to like this, tasted without reading about the wine, alongside smoked ham, good bread and salads. There are red fruits of interest, mostly cherried in flavour, with a bit of an olive character. There is length and persistence here too, a light and brightly-acidic expression of the Veneto.

But fundamentally this wine is simply too green. There is a dominant green bean character pressing down on all other aspects of the wine, with capsicum spice threaded through as well. This mix of green smells and flavours, overweighting the red fruits, gives a sense of stuffing-absent, of under-ripeness verging on shrill.

There are better ways to spend $90 than on this wine. A fine producer, but give this one a miss.

$90, purchase, cork, 13.5%.

Corte Sant'Alda "Ca' Fiui" Valpolicella 2008 (Veneto)

More Valpolicella.

Peppery spice, sap and stalk to smell. Fruit to the rear, but it is there, as are tannin and acid, tucked down under. If Valpolicella had a cool climate shiraz love child, this would be what it is like.

Which is not bad. Especially with braised lentils and cotechino sausage. No mustard fruits to hand, but a bright tomato pickle worked well in Cremona's stead. A touch of some dull, woody note, which could be oak or the mildest of cork taints. The final impression is somewhat underdone, the 12.5% alcohol shows as gaps in the weight and carry of fruit. A week more of good weather (or a different picking choice and winemaking style preference) would have made a more convincing wine.

Cork, 12.5% alcohol, $40, Mondo Imports.

Freeman Vineyards 2005 Secco Rondinella Corvina (Hilltops)

The 2005 release of the Freeman Rondinella Corvina blend sports a different label to the earlier vintages I have tried, and a new name: Secco. It certainly is a dry, and drying wine, as much from extract as tannins, with fruit currently in more of a supporting than leading role.

This wine uses a CSIRO built solar/gas dryer at Prunevale to dry a portion of Brian Freeman's fuit, along the lines of an amarone wine. As well as using two of the traditional amarone varieties (rondinella and corvina) that are little planted in Australia, the partial drying of the fruit modifies the tannins, producing a characteristic bittersweet and dark chocolate profile. The drying takes around 30% of the wet-weight out of the fruit, concentrating juice and sugars, as well as affecting the tannins in stalks, stems and skins.

From this tasting, the wine needs a few years to come into itself, but was still an excellent accompaniment to beef cheeks braised in red wine, served with a saffron risotto.