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This
elegant Italian white wine grape variety is creating a buzz in Australia.
Arneis plantings in the vineyards of the King Valley of North East Victoria,
in the Mornington Peninsula and the Riverland Wine region of South Australia
have now been in production for a few years. The next couple of years
will see if Australian wine consumers will share the enthusiasm for these wines.
The flavour of Arneis wine
Perfume, fruity, apples, pears, white grapefruit, floral, citrus, anise, hint of herbs...
These are the flavours you can expect in this superb Italian variety according to De Long's Wine Grape Varietal Table
In
its native Piedmont Arneis produces elegant white wines with powerful aromas
of almonds and peaches. The variety was much less popular in the 1970s.
The variety presents problems in the vineyard, but better clones and handling
have seen Arneis wines become more popular. Interestingly, small quantities
of Arneis have been used traditionally in Piedmont as blending material
for the red variety Nebbiolo.
Wines
made from the Arneis variety in Australia can be a little neutral, but
at their best these wines can be complex and aromatic and redolent of
almonds, pears, peaches and honey. They make ideal accompaniments to seafoods,
antipasti and salads. Other food pairing ideas for this variety can be found here.
Australian wineries
using Arneis
- Bawley Vale Estate Shoalhaven Coast
- Beechtree Wines McLaren Vale
- Berrima Estate Southern Highlands
- Box Stallion Mornington Peninsula
- Brown Brothers King Valley
- Chrismont King Valley
- Coombe Farm Vineyard Yarra Valley
- Crittenden at Dromana Mornington Peninsula
- Crooked River Wines Shoalhaven Coast
- Dal Zotto Estate King Valley
- De Bortoli Riverina
- Dromana Estate Mornington Peninsula
- Dunn's Creek Winery Mornington Peninsula
- First Drop Barossa Valley
- Helen's Hill Estate Yarra Valley
- Kingston Estate Riverland
- Lazzar Wines Mornington Peninsula
- Mac Forbes Wines Yarra Valley
- Parish Hill Wines Adelaide Hills
- Pizzini Wines King Valley
- Port Phillip Estate Mornington Peninsula
- Rochford Wines Yarra Valley
- Rutherglen Estates Rutherglen
- Setttlement Wine Company McLaren Vale
- Symphonia King Valley
- Tempus Two Hunter Valley
- Ten Miles East Adelaide Hills
- Tertini Wines Southern Highlands
- Vale Creek Wines Central Ranges Zone
- Vale Vineyard Mornington Peninsula
- Wirra Wirra McLaren Vale
- Yacca Paddock Vineyards Adelaide Hills
- Yandoit Hill Winery Bendigo
- Yarraloch Yarra Valley
- Zonte's Footstep Langhorne Creek
James
Halliday in his excellent Australian
Wine Companion credits Colin and Rosa Mitchell of Yandoit Hill Vineyard
(near Castlemaine in Central Victoria) with introducing the variety into
Australia.
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