“From Italian Brothers to Vintage Cellars in Manuka is a short stagger and as if the Gods had blown down a kiss, there were Bosio Italian wines on special,” writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER. 

A PIRATE walks into a bar with a steering wheel in his pants. The bartender says: “Doesn’t that hurt?” The pirate replies: “Arrr, it’s driving me nuts”. 

And the COVID-19 restrictions are driving us all a little crazy, making us feel unlucky. My son and daughter were supposed to be visiting friends and relatives in Queensland but the holiday got cancelled because of the lockdown there. 

So, as a pick-me-up, I bought them dinner at Blackfire in Braddon. We ordered the chef’s special, with an emphasis on meat for the two blokes and my daughter continued on her pescatarian path, where seafood is her only source of “meat” in an otherwise vegetarian diet.

The wine, therefore, had to be versatile enough to suit the full gamut of flavours on offer and roasted-food friendly. On that basis, I chose a Cato La Promessa Nebbiolo 2017 from Moppity Vineyards at $68. The internet is a wondrous instrument and we immediately saw that it retails for around $23-$30, so an acceptable markup. 

At first it belted us with its acidity, but that reduced over time and as we made our way through the courses. This was a complex wine with a nose of cherry and a hint of violets, distinctly floral. 

My daughter had never tried this varietal before and it enabled me to bestow upon her my knowledge of the Canberra Nebbiolo that I find outstanding: the Ravensworth, Hilltops Nebbiolo. That wine finishes longer than the Cato but they both display layered floral characteristics that seem to make a perfect duet with full flavoured fish, but especially with roasted meat. 

The next time that my daughter and son were with me for dinner was at home and I was determined that we do an “Australia versus Europe” tasting of Nebbiolo and I would cook salmon with lemon and pine nuts. So, I went to see JP, the self-confessed peasant owner of Italian Brothers in Manuka. Unfortunately, because of reduced demand induced by covid, he had no bottles of Nebbiolo for sale. 

“But, my friend,” he said, “the Italian is unbeatable, not this Australian stuff. You will see: better, more depth.” 

I indicated to him that perhaps a small amount of bias had crept into his comment and received a shrug and a non-verbal indication of the environment, as well as further discourse that essentially meant: “What do you expect?” 

From Italian Brothers to Vintage Cellars in Manuka is a short stagger and as if the Gods had blown down a kiss, there were Bosio Italian wines on special with their Boschi Dei Signori Nebbiolo D’Alba 2018 reduced from $40 to $20. 

This was a far more straightforward wine than the Australian varietals. It was equally floral on the nose but quite tarry and, not quite as JP had foreshadowed, with a less full-bodied finish than the homegrown equivalent. But it was pleasant and good value at the price. 

As anticipated, it opened up with the food and didn’t add a metallic taste to the mouth when taken with fish, the bane of some other reds. Apparently, it is tannin reacting with fish oil that provides that “aluminium-foil” unpleasantness.

On further reading, an even better Italian red to pair with fish is another Piedmont grape variety, Barbera. Both Nebbiolo and Barbera tend toward higher acidity and often display cherry tones, but they part ways when it comes to the product of their grape skins: Nebbiolo gets intense tannins from its skins, while Barbera can be dark ruby in colour, but have little or no tannin. At least we lucked out with the food and wine matching. 

“Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember, it didn’t work for the rabbit.” – RE Shay