Articles / NewsPrimo Estate: The Italian Connection
James Halliday, June 6, 2009When Joe and Dina Grilli moved their winery and cellar door from the Adelaide Plains to McLaren Vale in 2006, they did so in style. It was described by Australian Gourmet Traveller as “one of the most beautiful cellar doors in the country”, which barely does it justice.
Joe Grilli has always done things in style. His immigrant father Primo Grilli planted his first South Australian vineyard in 1973, when Joe was a teenager. Six years later, having just turned 20, he graduated as dux from Roseworthy Agricultural College.
Since then he has continued to move in the fast lane, albeit one of his own making. In 1981 he produced an avant-garde Beerenauslese riesling (it had 15 per cent gewurztraminer) using an elaborate and expensive system of bunches on racks in a humidity- and temperature-controlled room to produce botrytis.
He was also one of the first to use the doublepruning technique for his Adelaide Plains cabernet sauvignon, which dramatically reduced yield but significantly delayed ripening until the cooler conditions of autumn.
The move to making his flagship wine in 1987 was the most significant and enduring innovation. Originally called Joseph Moda Amarone, it involves partial desiccation of the hand-picked grape bunches on shaded racks for two weeks – hence Amarone, the name given by Italian winemakers in the Veneto region who have used the technique for generations. When they objected, Joe dropped the Amarone but kept the Moda (method), which lifts the alcohol by 1.5-2 per cent/vol to 15 per cent alc/vol.
Grilli has not forgotten his own quite recent Italian roots, and in 2006 went back to Tuscany to make a shiraz sangiovese blend, having made the same blend in Australia since 1998 under his Il Briccone label. In 2008 he added Primo & Co (as he brands his Italian wines) Garganega, the principal wine grape of the Veneto, and used to make its soave. (Robin Day of Domain Day was the first and, as far as I know, only Australian grower/maker of the variety.)
Swinging back to Australia, there are yet more Italian connections with 2008 Joseph Pinot Grigio d’Elena and 2007 Joseph Nebbiolo, the former as easy to make as the latter is difficult. Finally there is the 2006 Zamberlan Cabernet Sangiovese, which uses the Italian ripasso technique of fermentation on the skins of the previously fermented Moda. What’s next, I wonder.
2008 Primo & Co the Venetian Garganega Bianco
Simply made by slow, cold fermentation in stainless steel, and unable to use the soave name only because it uses a forbidden screwcap! White flower blossom aromas lead into a palate of ample weight and mouthfeel without a hint of phenolics, at once fruity yet with a fresh, dry finish. Bring on the food.
Screwcap; 12% alc; to 2011
Rating: 90
Price: $25
2007 Primo & Co The Tuscan Shiraz Sangiovese
A blend of 87% shiraz from Cortona and 17% sangiovese from Maremma, matured for nine months in used French barriques. Bright, light crimson, its spicy, earthy aromas swirl around the blackberry and plum at the centre of the palate, which finishes with spicy elements and fine, savoury tannins. Bistecca Fiorentina waits in the wings. ProCork; 14% alc; to 2014
Rating: 92
Price: $25
2007 Joseph Moda Cabernet Merlot
This was a tough vintage in McLaren Vale, well behind ’06 and ’08, and the general rule that Moda needs seven years to show its best applies with particular force here. The yield was tiny and the wine has very ripe fruit and some tougher components which go beyond tannins. Best left to its own devices for the time being.
Cork; 15% alc; to 2022
Rating: 91
Price: $65
Joe Grilli has always done things in style. His immigrant father Primo Grilli planted his first South Australian vineyard in 1973, when Joe was a teenager. Six years later, having just turned 20, he graduated as dux from Roseworthy Agricultural College.
Since then he has continued to move in the fast lane, albeit one of his own making. In 1981 he produced an avant-garde Beerenauslese riesling (it had 15 per cent gewurztraminer) using an elaborate and expensive system of bunches on racks in a humidity- and temperature-controlled room to produce botrytis.
He was also one of the first to use the doublepruning technique for his Adelaide Plains cabernet sauvignon, which dramatically reduced yield but significantly delayed ripening until the cooler conditions of autumn.
The move to making his flagship wine in 1987 was the most significant and enduring innovation. Originally called Joseph Moda Amarone, it involves partial desiccation of the hand-picked grape bunches on shaded racks for two weeks – hence Amarone, the name given by Italian winemakers in the Veneto region who have used the technique for generations. When they objected, Joe dropped the Amarone but kept the Moda (method), which lifts the alcohol by 1.5-2 per cent/vol to 15 per cent alc/vol.
Grilli has not forgotten his own quite recent Italian roots, and in 2006 went back to Tuscany to make a shiraz sangiovese blend, having made the same blend in Australia since 1998 under his Il Briccone label. In 2008 he added Primo & Co (as he brands his Italian wines) Garganega, the principal wine grape of the Veneto, and used to make its soave. (Robin Day of Domain Day was the first and, as far as I know, only Australian grower/maker of the variety.)
Swinging back to Australia, there are yet more Italian connections with 2008 Joseph Pinot Grigio d’Elena and 2007 Joseph Nebbiolo, the former as easy to make as the latter is difficult. Finally there is the 2006 Zamberlan Cabernet Sangiovese, which uses the Italian ripasso technique of fermentation on the skins of the previously fermented Moda. What’s next, I wonder.
2008 Primo & Co the Venetian Garganega Bianco
Simply made by slow, cold fermentation in stainless steel, and unable to use the soave name only because it uses a forbidden screwcap! White flower blossom aromas lead into a palate of ample weight and mouthfeel without a hint of phenolics, at once fruity yet with a fresh, dry finish. Bring on the food.
Screwcap; 12% alc; to 2011
Rating: 90
Price: $25
2007 Primo & Co The Tuscan Shiraz Sangiovese
A blend of 87% shiraz from Cortona and 17% sangiovese from Maremma, matured for nine months in used French barriques. Bright, light crimson, its spicy, earthy aromas swirl around the blackberry and plum at the centre of the palate, which finishes with spicy elements and fine, savoury tannins. Bistecca Fiorentina waits in the wings. ProCork; 14% alc; to 2014
Rating: 92
Price: $25
2007 Joseph Moda Cabernet Merlot
This was a tough vintage in McLaren Vale, well behind ’06 and ’08, and the general rule that Moda needs seven years to show its best applies with particular force here. The yield was tiny and the wine has very ripe fruit and some tougher components which go beyond tannins. Best left to its own devices for the time being.
Cork; 15% alc; to 2022
Rating: 91
Price: $65
