MOUNT EYRE – JUST WHAT THE DOCTORS ORDERED

david ellis

ALTHOUGH Doctor Aniello Iannuzzi and Dr Eve Tsironis only ventured into winemaking in the Hunter Valley in 1999, their appreciation for the juice of the grape is rooted back years in two of the Mediterranean's most passionate winemaking regions.

For centuries Aniello's family tilled vines and made wine in the famed Campania region of Italy, while Eve's did the same in Greece's historic Peloponnese. And if they were around today, doubtless both ancient families would be mighty pleased with their descendant's continuing their winemaking story on the other side of the world with their Mount Eyre Vineyards label.

Drs Aniello and Eve bought the Three Ponds Vineyard near Broke in 1999, and a few years later the Holman Estate Vineyard in the heart of Pokolbin, engaging Rhys Eather and Steve Hagan to produce a small, premium-quality range of whites, reds and sparklings.

Don't look past their 2006 Holman Shiraz that's possibly the best-ever red from Mount Eyre, being beautifully soft with flavours of dark berries, chocolate and tobacco, and with fine tannins and acidity that should see it drinking marvellously for anything up to twenty years.

Pay $45 and whip up a duck-and-mushroom risotto to go with it.

ONE FOR LUNCH: A colleague once penned in a Sydney newspaper that Westend's Richland Pinot Grigio from the NSW Riverina "was the best-value Pinot Grigio on the market." He was anything but wrong: at just $11.95 this is a wine in which you can almost sense that Westend's Bill Calabria has woven his own Italian heritage into the very essence of this great Italian varietal.

Lightly perfumed on the nose, pear and apple flavours on the palate and a clean crisp finish make this a zingy white to enjoy equally with traditional Italian Antipasto, maybe even Thai dishes – or simply fish and chips.

(NEED A FOOD/DRINK IDEA? Check out  http://www.vintnews.com )

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PHOTO CAPTIONS:

[] A BOTTLER of Mediterranean history in the Hunter Valley

[] WEAVING Italian heritage into a great-value white from the Riverina