Arrivo Nebbiolo 2006

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

“ARRIVO is probably the best Nebbiolo I’ve tasted outside Piedmont”

Lucca Currado, Vietti & Penna-Currado

About Arrivo

There are people that like wine, there are people that like Nebbiolo & then there are Neb-Heads that live, breath, and, dream the stuff! When they have to buy something, pay a bill or spend some coin they equate the amount to bottles of good Neb they could buy instead. Peter Godden is the very definition of a Neb-Head. Having worked with Alfredo and Luca Currado at Vietti during the truly great 1996 Barolo vintage, and bathed in Nebbiolo, he’s also been re-writing the rule book through his work with the Australian Wine Research Institute. Arrivo is the culmination of all of this.

Peter ran the Adavanced Wine Assessment Course at the AWRI for at least a decade educating winemakers and industry stalwarts alike. Carefully selecting wines from Australia and around the World to expose participants to the best the world has to offer, often disrupting their thinking in the process.

I attended the 2003 course and recall a bracket of 9 Nebbiolos, mostly Italian with a couple of Aussies in it. At the time very few in the room could get their heads around the tannin and flavour profiles. Most struggled to taste through the full bracket. Now thanks to the efforts of Peter and others, wine lovers around Australia are enamoured by this mystical wine.

His work at the AWRI saw him travel the country and world exposing him to an array of viticultural and winemaking practices that combined with his own formidable winemaking experience saw him exposed to a spectrum of people and practices building an incredible foundation of knowledge from which to start ARRIVO.

Most in the industry agree that to truly establish a successful venture in the wine industry takes 2 generations … if you get it right! In part due to the need to optimise viticulture and winemaking, and, in part to establish a commercial presence in a saturated market.

When he started ARRIVO he was already effectively a generation in.

Starting from scratch with 35 vines, 5 of each of the just released 7 Nebbiolo clones, is never the less a long term proposition. The first challenge presented to the Arrivo team: building up vine stock, exploring the traits of each clone and deciding which ones in what proportion to plant … so they began!

His alumni have taken different paths. Think Warren Gibson and Lorraine Leheny of Bilancia, Nadège and Tom Carson at Serrat & Yabby Lake, and Virginia Wilcox at Vasse Felix.

All have one thing in common, they have been prepared to take extreme measures and make great sacrifices in the pursuit of making wines that draw you in and whisper in your ear … drink me! drink me!

In the Vineyard

The site for the ARRIVO vineyard in Gumeracha in the Adelaide Hills is unique. Located at an altitude of between 450 and 480 metres at the very crest of the of the slope above the original nursery block, it is steep and rocky with a north-north-westerly aspect, reminiscent of many Nebbiolo vineyards in Piedmont – a true Bricco Mezzogiorno . From the very first time he visited the vineyard, Peter had noted that the top of one of the north west-facing slopes, which was quite steep and very rocky in places, had not been planted with other vines. This was the ideal site for his vineyard, and the more he looked at other potential sites in the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere, the more convinced he became.

A hybrid of the best of Piedmontese and Australian trellising and canopy management techniques have been employed, using eight-foot posts and four sets of foliage wires, and the vines are pruned to unilateral canes running downhill. By consensus in Australia and elsewhere, Nebbiolo is a particularly difficult variety to grow. However, ARRIVO was able to achieve desired canopy densities and levels of fruit exposure, whilst keeping in check the variety’s inherent vigour and quirky growth habits. It is a highly labour-intensive and expensive way to grow grapes, but necessary to yield fruit of the quality required to produce ARRIVO NEBBIOLO.

There’s a period of time when the grapes are almost ripe that they sit in between the vineyard and the winery. Nothing much can be done in the vineyard, bar some minor canopy manipulation and removal of imperfect bunches. As often as necessary makers will be walking the vineyards, looking for subtle differences that help them separate parcels and choose when to pick each one. They have to get to know their vineyard and the clones they’re working with vine by vine. Just how should the skins, seeds and stalks look and feel when they are perfectly right. What will happen if you pick too early or too late. For Nebbiolo and most other varieties assessing the seeds plays a major role. Ripe seeds are one of the strongest indicators that you’re ready to pick. Peter describes the perfect point being when Nebbiolo seeds are lignified (brown) and pop in your mouth when you crush them between your molars. Then the fruit hits the winery.

In the Winery

The ARRIVO winemaking is as unconventional as the vineyard. It is a compilation of traditional Piedmontese and well defined high quality Australian red winemaking techniques. The must is separated into various batches with differing proportions of skins to juice to illicit a different mouthfeel in each, and the batches are fermented with different yeasts at different temperatures and with differing cap management. As the fermentations progress the batches are gradually recombined. Peter feels that the stages at which recombination takes place and the proportion of each treatment that is recombined each time, is crucial in achieving the desired outcome in terms of optimal tannin extraction and colour stabilisation. ARRIVO is aiming for a modern and discernibly Australian interpretation of the variety which appeals to a slightly wider audience than Australia’s growing circle of Nebbiolo aficionados, but which also displays many of the traditional characteristics of the best wines from Italy.

I spent about an hour talking with Peter about winemaking techniques. I wish I’d recorded it for the value other makers of Nebbiolo could get! There are a rare few people who know the winemaking rule book. The number who apply it effectively to accelerate their learning to make the best possible wines are rarer still. The number who have worked with and been mentored by the likes Alfredo Currado, yup, the Vietti one, his son Luca or, someone with similar levels of experience and wisdom with the varietals they are playing with is incredibly small. Add to that, those who have drunk the benchmark wine in the company of someone like Alfredo, and, know what truly is possible, and, you’re down to a handful.

You might think this would result in a technical boring wine. With the ability to re-write the rule book and then the ability to throw it out, the reality for Arrivo is the polar opposite. Arrivo’s wines are sensual and full of personality.

I wish more makers understood the basics.

Applying Lance Armstongs Tour de France winning techniques, juice was drained off at the beginning and held at cold temperature to halt fermentation. This juice would then be added back a little at a time to keep the fermentation going. We applied a similar technique to Chardonnay back in 1999 and the impact on mid-palate weight was phenomenal. For Nebbiolo, the aim was also the development of stable colour-tannin complexes without harsh mouthfeel developing.

What’s in a name? ARRIVO

For people whose palates are attuned to wines from Cabernet, Pinot and Merlot grapes, Barolo and Barbaresco might take some getting used to. They are what the Italians call wines of arrivo, to be arrived at after experiences with less imposing wines, for they can be extraordinarily complex. Oenophiles who know them well consider them among the most consistently rewarding red wines of Europe.

Burton Anderson “Vino The Wines & Makers of Italy”

The ‘normale’ Arrivos had between 14 -18days on skins depending on the vintage. During that time they would be pumped over and racked and returned. Never plunged (just too aggressive for Neb). Gentle infusion the aim. During the rack and returns 50% of seeds were removed again to avoid excessive amount of hard tannin being extracted as the concentration of alcohol increased.

None of these things are rocket science. You just have to think of the possibilities and put in the work. Hard work. Lots of manual handling of must, skins, fermenting wine, up and down catwalks. I was never fitter than when I was working my Nebbiolo ferments Peter says.

The Lunga Macerazione saw around 3% whole bunch with full mature, lignified stalks, anything less would have imparted hard green tannins.

At the appropriate time, the various batches would be drained off skins, the wine settled for 12 hours and then the clear wine pump off top the tank to fill the Lunga Macerazione tanks. Peter employed cappo submersio, holding the skins down with a stainless steel mesh about 8cm below the surface. When all fermentation had ceased the tanks would be sealed airtight and full for around 72 days before finally being pressed.

From there the interplay between time, oxygen and sulphur was the main focus. Alternating the wines between an equally enthralling and finely selected oak combination, and purpose made 725 litre stainless steel tanks, built with imported Italian fittings similar to some Peter had seen at a leading cantina in Barolo. Exploring that would take a book. Suffice to say Peter got it right!

It was funny how many parallels our discussion had with the musing I had with Matt Large a few weeks ago as we explored how Giacosa, Versio and Oddero handle their Neb.

Where in the World is Arrivo?

ARRIVO’s vineyard is in Gumeracha in the Adelaide Hills. The pin roughly in the middle of the image is at the top of the vineyard. An old talc mine rest just to the east. Visiting the site back in 2003 it was clear the geology is lean, rocky with a diverse makeup.