Alpine Wine Tasting

Chardonnay grapes cultivated in hill-foot zone vineyards are gently pressed. Fermentation is in steel tanks.The wine matures sur lie for a minimum of 18 months. This Franciacorta Brut expresses the personality of the winery. Crisp, with a long-lingering progression displaying a beautiful balance between hints of citrus and mixed nuts.

In 1975 Enrico Gatti purchased a single hectare in Erbusco, the heart of the Franciacorta region, and made a red wine which he sold in demijohns to local restaurants. At the time Franciacorta was really just getting started as a sparkling wine region and, seeing the potential, Enrico enlisted the support of his children, Lorenzo and Paola, and Paola's husband Enzo Balzarini, and in 1984 they acquired a further sixteen hectares with the aim of producing a great bollicine. PWS

Spring blossom and white stone-fruit aromas lift out of the glass. On the lively palate, bright acidity raises yellow apple, citrus and a hazelnut note against a racy perlage. KERIN O’KEEFE, Wine Enthusiast

Elio Ottin is the rising star of Valle d'Aosta, the smallest of Italy's regions located in the Alps bordering France and Switzerland. Until 2007 Elio, a passionate farmer, was selling his fruit to the local cooperative, which is common in these parts due to the small land holdings and the intense labour required to work the terraced hillsides.

Fumin is a native Valdostan variety, first recorded in 1711. It is widely grown in the upper and central parts of the valley and thrives in the cold climate. Elio dries his Fumin for one week before the wine is fermented and the grapes aren't pressed into cask for ageing until the end of January. Full bodied with intense fruit aromas of marasca cherry, blackberries and blackcurrants with hints of spice, chocolate and cigar box.

Strawberry, mint leaf, a bit of a steely ozone thing too. It’s light to medium-bodied, strawberry dusted with pepper, crisp cranberry acidity, a light white pepper tannin grip, finishing lively with spiced red fruit and a twist of orange peel. Easy to like. A versatile wine that would be great with food. I’d likely pick it as Pelaverga blind. That sort of thing. Yum. GARY WALSH, www.winefront.com.au

Seduction in the glass, in a way that can only be found in the Italian Alps: pure, supple and slippery. 100% Nebbiolo, yet a wine that more closely mirrors the elegance of Bourgogne rather than the intensity of Barolo. Lifted aromatics of wild strawberries, with minerality and a long finish without aggressiveness or anything rustic. PWS

100% Nebbiolo sourced from vineyards across the communes of Sondrio and Montagna in Valtellina, which range in elevation from 400-450m. 10-12 days on skins, aged 6 months in oak. DIRUPI

Cherry, strawberry, dried flowe rs, some liquorice and mint. It’s medium-bodied, has sweetness and succulence, but offers that cool alpine breeze that freshens and gives the acidity crispness and vibrancy, the tannin is fine-grained, and kind of volcanic and dusty, and the finish is long and lively. It’s an excellent wine. Delightful. Such a good drink.GARY WALSH, www.winefront.com.au


What a beautiful rendition of this wine. The aromatics that drift out of the glass are delicate but insistent - wild flowers, bruised strawberry and plum, dried herbs and liquorice. Ethereal nebbiolo, so pure. The palate delivers on the promise of the aromas with a wrap around of red fruits and dried savoury alpine herbs and a subtle blast of quartz minerality. Nebbiolo tannins grab your attention and keep add in a level of seriousness. As always it's a lovely Valtellina, so true to type - pure and expressive ut with an underlying seriousness. Delicious. MICHAEL MCNAMARA

In the highest reaches of the Val d’Aoste beneath Mont Blanc, Ermes Pavese harnesses the Prie Blanc grape to express the majesty of his alpine terroir. Prie is the oldest documented cultivar in the Val d'Aoste, and is among the oldest in all of Italy. Genetic parent to, among others, Premetta and Mayolet, it gives crystalline wines of vivacity and precision when tended by a conscientious grower like Pavese.

From estate vineyards in Alto Adige in northern Italy, this wine is made from Lagrein. Grown on warm, gravelly alluvial soils around Bolzano, the fruit is fermented with good extraction and matured in oak to tame the variety’s naturally firm structure. The palate is dark and generous, with blackberry, plum and black cherry layered with cocoa, spice and a touch of violet. A firm tannic frame and savoury depth carry through the finish, giving a wine that is structured, brooding and distinctly Alpine.