Tag Archives: Italian grapes

Video

Let’s Taste – The Local Drop Intrepid Wino Pack #1 – Italo-Australians

I was thrilled to have been contacted by the team at The Local Drop recently, who are fans of my podcast The Vincast, and invited me to curate my own wine packs based on things I was excited about. I’m very proud to share my first collection, which probably wouldn’t surprise some of you is all around Australian wines made from Italian varieties. I continue to be blown away by the quality of these wines and their applicability not only to the Australian climate but also the culture around food and wine here. I hope you enjoy my tasting video, please head to The Local Drop website to find out more and to purchase, please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

Wines tasted;
Trentham Estate Prosecco NV
Wine Unplugged ‘The Dagger’ Pinot Grigio 2016
Range Life Garganega 2015
Unico Zelo Dolcetto 2017
Fighting Gully Road Sangiovese 2016
Vino Intrepido Spanna in the Works Nebbiolo 2017

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August 7, 2018 · 11:44 am
November 21, 2017 · 9:00 am

The Vincast with Ben Ranken from Galli Estate & Wilimee Vineyard

In a way, Ben Ranken’s wine career has come full circle. He grew up on a vineyard in Tumbarumba, a region in New South Wales famed for the quality of its chardonnay. Recently he and his wife purchased the Wilimee Vineyard in Macedon, another cool-climate region ideal for chardonnay. In the intervening years he gained considerable vintage experience in Australia and the northern hemisphere, and since 2007 has been making wine at Galli Estate, an incredible Sunbury-based producer that also has a vineyard in Heathcote. We chatted about his winemaking journey, his many influences, and also how important the Lorenzo Galli Scholarship is for educating the wine industry on the nuances of Italian grapes that they work extensively with.

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Ben Ranken from Galli Estate

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November 20, 2017 · 9:49 am

The Vincast Live 5/12/2017 – “What are the ‘right’ grape varieties for Australian wine?”

I was thrilled to host the first ever edition of The Vincast Live in conjunction with the Ear Buds Podcast Network. Joining me as co-host was wine enthusiast, activist and fellow podcaster (Quickie) Nevena Spirovska (who is also the person that invited to me to be a member of the network).

For the first edition of this new and exciting concept, we discussed the topic – “What are the ‘right’ grape varieties for Australian wine?”  Not only is the Australian wine industry rapidly evolving with new grape varieties and alternative techniques, but so are the tastes of Australian wine consumers. With so many different options for planting in a multitude of different regions, what are the right choices to keep up with developments and trends when it comes to vitis vinifera?

Joining us were winemakers and former guests of The Vincast; Dan Buckle from Chandon Australia and Circe Wines and guest on Episode 67 (and Episode 117) of The Vincast; and Ben Ranken from Galli Estate and Wilimee Wines, guest on this week’s episode of the podcast. There were wines for tasting relevant to the topic to fuel further discussion. I’m thrilled that we held this event at Noisy Ritual in Brunswick East, owned and operated by another former guest – Alex Byrne from Episode 80 – where I also made my first Vino Intrepido wine.

The Facebook Live video can be seen here https://www.facebook.com/IntrepidWino/videos/1933081903375167/ and the episode will be available on The Vincast soon!

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Video

Vino Intrepido 2017 Part Three – The Press

Increasing the volume of fruit for this vintage meant a lot more pressing. Luckily that was largely automated thanks to the pneumatic press, but there was quite a lot of manual labour required, bucketing solids into the press. Six separate skin-contact ferments were all press at different times, and every time the press needed to be cleaned. The pressing program was as follows;
– One of two tonnes of Riverland Vermentino were fermented on skins in two separate ferments. One was pressed immediately after the completion of fermentation, spending a total of nine days on skins. The other was pressed twelve days later, spending a total of three weeks on skins. Both were transferred to neutral white barriques for ageing.
– One tonne of Mildura Nero d’Avola was de-stemmed and split into two fermenters. After only two days of fermentation one half-tonne was pressed and completed fermentation in a stainless steel tank, whilst the other half-tonne completed fermentation on skins but was pressed soon after, a total of 10 days on skins. Each press went to a 300L mature hogshead barrel for ageing.
– Two tonnes of Pyrenees nebbiolo were de-stemmed and split in half. Both finished fermenting on skins. Nothing was added or removed from these ferments. One tonne was pressed after 15 days on skins, the other spent 56 days on skins. They were split between 2010 and 2012 vintage barriques.

Vino Intrepido is a (soon to be launched) brand that combines great Italian grape varieties with great Australian wine regions and growers, experimenting with different winemaking techniques to bring you delicious wine! If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch via email on vinointrepido@gmail.com

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July 5, 2017 · 8:24 am
Video

Vino Intrepido 2017 Part Two – Fermentation

The 2017 vintage was very prolonged, and each of the three varieties finished fermenting before the next one arrived. The fermentations were as follows;
– Two tonnes Riverland Vermentino were split in half – one tonne was pressed and one tonne de-stemmed for skin-contact fermentation. Half of the pressed juice was transferred to neutral barriques for barrel-fermentation, the rest fermented in stainless steel. The two skin-contact ferments had a neutral commercial yeast added to help them through ferment.
– One tonne of Mildura Nero d’Avola was de-stemmed and split into two fermenters. After only two days of fermentation one half-tonne was pressed and completed fermentation in a stainless steel tank, whilst the other half-tonne completed fermentation on skins. Due to the low acids and high pH, tartaric acid was added to help balance the wine.
– Two tonnes of Pyrenees nebbiolo were de-stemmed and split in half. Both finished fermenting on skins. Nothing was added or removed from these ferments.

Vino Intrepido is a (soon to be launched) brand that combines great Italian grape varieties with great Australian wine regions and growers, experimenting with different winemaking techniques to bring you delicious wine! If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch via email on vinointrepido@gmail.com

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July 4, 2017 · 11:20 am
Video

Let’s Taste – The Craft & Co. Nero d’Avola 2015

I recently met Rory Lane who is going to be a future guest on The Vincast, and he gave me a bottle of this wine that he made in 2015 for The Craft & Co. The fact that it was made from an Italian grape, and it came from Heathcote, made this a no-brainer. Let me know what you think in the comments below!

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February 25, 2017 · 8:54 am
Video

Let’s Taste – Amato Vino Teroldego & Nebbiolo 2014

Not for the first time, I’m tasting wine made by Brad Wehr from Amato Vino, who was a guest on Episode 58 of my wine podcast The Vincast. Unlike last time, I’m tasting wine Brad made from Margaret River fruit, but they are both Italian grape varieties. Please let me know what you think in the comments below, and be sure to check out the episode of The Vincast with Brad!

Wines tasted;
Amato Teroldego 2014 – RRP $40.00
Amato Nebbiolo 2014 – RRP $40.00

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February 11, 2017 · 10:32 am
Video

Let’s Taste – Billy Button White Wines December 2016

I’ve followed Jo Marsh and her Billy Button Wines for some time, mostly as they are focused on my beloved Italian grape varieties. After finally meeting Jo at the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show late last year, I was thrilled to finally be able to open some bottles here on the IntrepidWino YouTube channel. I looked at three white wines made from varieties that originate from different parts of Italy. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Wines tasted;
Billy Button ‘The Delinquent’ Verduzzo 2015 – RRP $25.00
Billy Button ‘The Honest’ Fiano 2016 – RRP $25.00
Billy Button ‘The Versatile’ Vermentino 2016 – RRP $25.00
Website – http://billybuttonwines.com.au

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January 22, 2017 · 9:41 pm
Video

AAVWS Part One – How the show works

I was honoured to be named the 2016 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show Fellow, given an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the show and the events run around it. Heading up several days early and offering to steward a few days, I took the opportunity to learn more about the show, and how it improves the quality of Australian wine made from emerging grape varieties. Here is the first video in a short series on the show, outlining how the show is run. Please let me know if you have any questions, feel free to make comments below!

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November 20, 2016 · 5:09 pm
November 15, 2016 · 9:00 am

The Vincast with Ashley Ratcliff from Ricca Terra Farms

For the past fourteen years, Ashley Ratcliff has worked for arguably Australia’s most important family-owned wine business, Hill-Smith Family Vineyards. Over those years he worked in many different elements of the business, from viticulture to marketing, operations to running one of the wineries. More recently he has established a vineyard in the Riverland – considered one of the warm-hot irrigated regions known for large volume grape production – and has been planting more alternative varieties to show the potential for these grapes in the region, particularly for high quality fruit. He has now thrown himself 100% into Ricca Terra Farms, and even has other plans for the future.

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Follow James on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

Subscribe to the Intrepid Wino channel on YouTube and watch a few videos!

Follow The Vincast on Twitter and download all the previous episodes here

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, PlayerFM or Podbean, and don’t forget to rate and review!

Ashley Ratcliff from Ricca Terra Farms

Ashley Ratcliff from Ricca Terra Farms

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