july 2019 bruce thiele red wine clubpage 2 griffith. at the end of the day, frances-co decided he...

Twenty eight members and one guest enjoyed our 39th birthday at Calabria Family Wines. We were welcomed at the door, on a rather blustery night, by staff members Sharron Lewis, Megan Fullerton, Anna Robertson and Taylor Smith. They greeted us with a glass of N/V Calabria Pri-vate Bin Prosecco . As we enjoyed this several delicious dishes were presented they were Duck rillette with spice poached pear on sourdough, Salt cod baccala with pickled vegetables on a rye crack-er and Truffled mushroom arancini and romesco sauce.

Once we had all gathered Laurie Rundle welcomed us to our 39th Birthday celebrations and thanked our hosts Calabria Family Wines. Hi then introduced Megan Fullerton who was to take us through the wines to be tasted.

We sat down at the tables and Megan gave us some of the history of the family. The story began three generations ago with a vision from Francesco & Elisabetta Calabria in 1945. In search for a better life, Domenico, and Francesco Calabria boarded a ship named ‘Romello’ and set sail for Australia in search for a better life. They settled in the Riverina region and found work as farm hands. Once enough money was saved Francesco wrote to his wife to join him in the land he often referred to as the Richland.

The newly arrived migrants from Italy came to Australia, with the vision of providing a better life for their family. They purchased a five-acre farm in Griffith which is locat-ed in the Riverina re-gion of New South Wales and settled with their seven children in the west end of

Birthday at Calabria Family Wines and

Harvest Kitchen Restaurant

Editor:Ian Cooper

Photos: Steve Blee & Ian Cooper

Bruce Thiele Red Wine Club

JULY 2019

Coming Up • August 27: Verti-

cal tasting of Cab-ernets

• September 24: Home Other wines

• October 22: Re-member Bruce with Nipper + Rory

• November 19: Laughing Jack

• December 10: Christmas at The Sandy Creek Golf Club.

GUEST INVITATION You are invited to join a group of like minded men at a Bruce Thiele Red Wine Club dinner meeting to taste, talk about, learn and en-joy wine. Inquiries Peter Frick [email protected]

BRING A FRIEND

Remember, at home shows you can intro-duce a new guest for just $25

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Griffith.

At the end of the day, Frances-co decided he needed a glass or three of good home-made red or white to ease the pains of a day on the family's fruit farm in the new-fangled irrigation area. Unfortunately, he didn't have the money to invest in all the necessary equipment to make it with, so he took over Eliza-beth’s laundry tubs, and impro-vised from the little materials he had. Soon enough he was producing wines for the local Italian and European population.

His son, Bill Calabria, often tells of the hardship they endured: “As a child I remember the wine being enjoyed by family and friends, who would purchase the wine in large barrels. His tech-niques of making the wine never changed and the end product was always delicious. The idea of making home-made wine was simple to survive; it was a means of income for my parents – something that I am eternally grateful for.”

For a man whose education never went beyond primary school, Francesco’s achievements were remarkable. “I was fortunate enough to learn the secret behind my father’s wines, which lead me and my brother, Tony, to take over the small production at the ripe age of 14.” Bill express-es.

Tony and Bill were running the small winery throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, however in the late 1980’s the Australian economy was facing a recession and the Australian wine industry was in the doldrums. Sales had dried up, and vines were being ripped out across the country’s lead-ing wine regions and my dad made the heart-breaking decision to put the family winery on the market. Bill inherited a lot of debt and owed a lot of money to the bank and vowed to do what-ever it took to keep the wine flowing at the family winery. Bill, his wife Lena and children; Frank and Michael started washing wine bottles and two litre flagons for other wineries in the River-ina, using an old soft-drink bottle washing machine that he salvaged from a paddock in the back-blocks of Narrandera. The idea of washing bottles was never ideal, but it allowed the winery to keep functioning and believe it or not that old machine got the family back on track at the right

time. The family wine business was in a better position when the 1990’s brought new interest and prosperity to the wine industry, with the demand for export.

It was the start of the decade and Bill made the conscious decision he did not want to become a big bulk producing winery, instead he vowed to produce quality wines, wines that would soon

39th Birthday (Cont.)

win him accolades internationally.

Thirty successful years later, Bill has been joined by his four children in the business at Calabria Family Wines, but no longer washing bottles for other wineries, instead he has grown his Riv-erina-base, making consistent, high quality wines from several premium wine growing regions.

In 2010 Vineyard’. This was the begin-ning on what has been a very exciting time for Calabria Family Wines, which soon followed by an additional Barossa purchase in 2012, ‘The Sophie Vineyard’. In March 2015, another opportunity presented itself and the Calabria family are now tthe Calabria family became proud custodians of 100 year old Barossa Shiraz vines; ‘The William he proud owners of a true Barossa Valley landmark; the picturesque ‘Magnolia Vale’ which is now known as ‘Elisabeth Estate’. Earlier this year the Barossa Cellar Door opened.

Megan then led us through the wines that had been selected for us to taste. The first to be tast-ed was Calabria’s 2017 Three Bridges Barossa Grenache, which had fragrant aromas of raspber-ries, strawberries and wild herbs. And a palate of fruits of berries and pomegranate. It had had twelve months in new French oak.

The Next wine was their 2017 Three Bridges Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon It has a nose mulberry fruit, blackcurrant and a cedar and a fruity palate.

Our third wine was also from the Barossa—a 2016 Calabria Bros. Old Vine Shiraz. It is from 70 year old vines and had been aged in American Oak. We then moved to the Riverina for a 2017 Three Bridges Durif. Another wine full of fruit than had benefited from its time in American oak.

Our final taste was from the Calabria Saint Petri range - a 2016 Shiraz Carignan. The wine is a blend of two grape varieties from three vineyards in the Barossa Valley. Both the Shiraz and Carignan are from the Calabria Family’s ‘William’ Vineyard in Nuriootpa. The Carignan fruit is sourced from two vineyard blocks, one old & one young. The older block is circa 1914 planting and these vines are tagged and hand picked vine by vine. The Shiraz selected for this wine are over fifty years of age and display a dense core of fruit.

The tasting completed we had our first prize draw while the first of the several dishes that were to be our dinner was served. The winners were Andrew Maynard and Rory Chisholm

The dinner dishes were: Harvest sourdough with caper salt and butter,

Torzi-Matthews olives, fennel seed, chilli, Tweedvale labneh, raselhanout, nigella, Eggplant ca-ponata and grilled ciabatta .


Baby carrots with liquorice root and leek ash, Jerusalem artichoke with kale and hazelnut, Hutton vale lamb with pomegranate, marsala and millet, and Fried chicken with celeriac , crème fraiche and apple, Caramelised brussels sprouts, white bean puree and pan-cetta, Baked kipflers with horseradish cream.

Between dishes there were further priz-es drawn by Megan. Winners were Ron Tomlinson, Peter Frick Ian Cooper and Mick Sanderson. The buyers prize was drawn by Nipper Fechner (one of our long standing members) and was won by Tony Impett.

Next it was time for our birthday cake (courtesy of Bob & Jenny Heinicke). The cutting of the actual cake by Peter Frick (another ‘original’) was preceded by a sparkler bedecked substitute and a rousing version of ‘happy birthday to us’.

Rory Chisholm, the third of our long standing members, then told us about the early history of the club. Apparently the original idea of an ‘Orlando Wine Club’ came from an Orlando employee by the name of Dennis Warren who had been in-volved in a wine club in Griffith (Calabria’s home town). He moved on and Bruce took it over. Bruce originally formed a committee by did all the work himself. Bruce was a master at conducting a tasting and enjoyed educating people about wine. Rory after over thirty years with the club can tell a red from a white wine! Rory noted the exact date the club started is not clear but the club had selected 1980 as a reasonable date.

After Rory finished his patter we enjoyed a slice of cake with a glass of the Calabria NV Francesco Grand Tawney.

N/V Calabria Private Bin Prosecco The Story: The Calabria family saw a great opportunity to introduce a new product that would reflect the Calabria family’s Italian heritage and also capture the excite-ment of the old world variety that has been sweeping the new world. Winemaker , Bill Calabria decided to plant the Prosecco variety in the Riverina region, however it would be several years until the fruit came into production at the Griffith winery. Michael Calabria then decided it would be a great opportunity to contact his friend Fabio in Italy, Fabio’s family own a small winery in Veneto, Italy called Terre Gaie—Michael and Fabio decided to create a joint venture label under the Calabria Private Bin Range. Senior winemaker Emma Norbiato worked alongside the Terre Gaie winemakers to create a Prosecco that had the traditional characteristics but also had to suit the Australian climate and Aussie palates. Together they produced a wine that is set to become a trend setter—Una bella amore! Wine notes: Colour—Pale straw with slight hints of lime green. Bouquet: Delicate aromas of fresh cut white peach and crunchy rockmelon, with slight hints of juicy red apple, ripe pear and lemon rind. Palate: Upfront fruit flavours of crunchy pear and crisp apple with hints of lemon rind and lemon curd, finishing with a lingering soft creamy length, aided by a subtle line and length acidity and delicate bead. Finish: Crisp lingering finish.

Alcohol: 14.0% Cellar door price $18.00

2017 Three Bridges Grenache Celebrating 25 years the Three Bridges range was born from Bill Calabria’s dedication to creating a strong reputation for premium Riverina wines. The range now includes award-winning varietals from several of Australia’s most renowned regions, including the Barossa Valley. Each wine in the Three Bridges range begins with a commitment to selecting exceptional parcels of high quality fruit to deliver balanced fullbodied wines of outstanding character. The label pays homage to the three bridges built in the early 1900s, adjacent to the winery, supplying water from the iconic Snowy Mountain scheme to the vineyards of the Riverina.

Vineyard & Region: Fruit sourced from the Barossa Valley

Tasting Note: An elegantly perfumed wine with fragrant aromas of raspberries, straw-berries and wild herbs. The palate is seamless with vibrant fruits of berries and pomegranate, supported by creamy fine grained tannins and lingering

spicy oak.


2017 Three Bridges Cabernet Sauvignon Colour: Intense deep red with a crimson edge. Bouquet: Fragrant with an array mul-berry fruit, blackcurrant and a cedar nose. Palate: A full bodied smooth palate with big notes of ripe fruit and five spices integrating with vanillin oak, providing complexity, ensuring a well balanced, mouth filling and flavoursome finish.


The Wines

The Wines (Cont.)

2016 Calabria Bros. Old Vine Shiraz WINEMAKING Three generations of family winemaking ensure that the Calabria Bros. know great wine. Ancient low yielding Shiraz vineyards, hand plunged in historic open concrete fermenters, careful aging in the best oak barriques and hogsheads for eight-een months, and the result is this opulent intense essence of Shiraz. VINEYARD Barossa Valley. Calabria Wine’s vineyard boasts old vines that thrive in a Mediterranean-like climate. BOUQUET Purple black with a red cherry and dark chocolate nose. PALATE Rich and full bodied with ripe plums, spicy vanillin oak, and a long fine grained tannin finish. Cellar door price $30.00

2017 Three Bridges Durif Vineyard: Fruit sourced from the Riverina. Colour: Intense deep crimson with vibrant purple hue. Bouquet: An aromatic blood plum and dark chocolate nose with an array of ripe blackberries, supported by toasty American oak.

Palate: A full bodied palate with big rich characters, encompassing a tannic mouth feel of vanillin and coconut combined with sweet fruit and warm alcohol.

Winemakers Comment: Durif is a red wine originally sourced from France. The berries produced are small and concentrated and performs best in warm, sunny areas and that is why Calabria Wines has so much success with it. The wine produced is full flavoured with intense colour & high tannins & will age well.

Alc/Vol: 14.5% Cellar door price $25.00

2016 Saint Petri Shiraz Carignan THE VINEYARD The wine is a blend of two grape varieties from three vineyards in the Barossa Valley. Both the Shiraz and Carignan are from the Calabria Family’s ‘William’ Vineyard in Nuriootpa; soils are sand over clay at approx 280m elevation. These vineyards have moderately low GDD (1650-1800). The Carignan fruit is sourced from two vineyard blocks, one old & one young. The older block is circa 1914 planting and these vines are tagged and hand picked vine by vine. The Shiraz selected for this wine are over fifty years of age and display a dense core of fruit. THE SEASON The 2016 was a standout in the Barossa, producing low yields and high quality wine. Spring was warm and dry, therefore good conditions for flower-ing and fruit set. A mild January enabled flavours to build slowly.

WINEMAKING Crafted under the guiding hand of chief winemaker, Emma Norbi-ato, the fruit is hand picked and sorted to ensure perfect fruit reaches the fer-menter. The Shiraz parcel was fermented on skins for eight days in our 60 year old bespoke concrete vats before being gently pressed, and later completing malo lactic fermentation in barrel. Carignan was one of the last varieties to ripen in the 2016 vintage season, and once the small parcel of fruit was harvested, it was carefully fermented separately in a small open top vessel. Matured individually in selected high quality French oak barrels for 12 months (predominately new oak), allowing the wines to soften and develop gracefully. After 12 months of maturation, the winemaking team tasted and selected individual barrels to ensure the wines are at their best prior to blending

BOTTLE MATURATION Drinking well now but will reward medium term cellaring for fifteen years.

TASTING NOTE Dark purple with deep red core. Black currant aromas with hints of savoury spicy oak, liquorice, dark cherry, blood plums & lavender. A dense dark fruit core, the wine dances across the palate with dark chocolate flavours and savoury oak with ripe fine grained tannins, seri-ous yet finely balance.

ANALYSIS Alcohol by Volume 14% | pH: 3.6 | Titratable Acidity: 5.65 | Sugar: 3.1

Cellar door price $90.00

Calabria NV Francesco Grand Tawney Bouquet: Aromas of spice and chocolate with a palate of roasted nuts and coffee; which both shows great age and freshness.

Palate: Made with aromatic brandy spirit and aged in small barrels and large casks this wine has developed wonderfully complex age and rancio characters.

Winemakers Comment: Francesco Grand Tawny has been blended from specially selected barrel aged wines from 3 to 16 years of age.

Awards : 92 Points by James Halliday Bronze Medal 2014 Brisbane Wine Show Bronze Medal 2014 Cowra Wine Show

Maturation : Perfect to enjoy as is or will also keep for several more years in bottle

Alcohol Volume : 19.0% Cellar Door Price: $45.00 (500ml)

The Wines (Cont.)


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july 2019 bruce thiele red wine clubpage 2 griffith. at the end of the day, frances-co decided he...

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