#freeman vineyards

[huonhooke]

Best rosé

Freeman Vineyards Rondo Rondinella Rose, Hilltops 2012 $20

Freeman is the only grower of rondinella listed in Australia’s Wine Industry Directory. They make red and rose from it. Pale salmon pink colour; toasty nut and spice aromas - much more interesting than shrill primary fruit. Light and quaffable but also quite intense, with a lip-smacking dry finish. 13.5 per cent alcohol. 89/100 (Huon's Wine 360)

Food: mixed charcuterie

[huonhooke]

Freeman Vineyards founder gets Graham Gregory Award 2012

Dr Brian Freeman, of the NSW Hilltops region’s Freeman Vineyards (tasting notes), has been awarded the Graham Gregory Award for 2012 for his contribution to the NSW wine industry. Freeman was professor of wine science at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, during the 1990s.

He began his 40-year career as a research scientist with the NSW Department of Agriculture, specialising in mechanical pruning. He published 87 papers on viticultural science and technology.

In 1999, Freeman established his own 50-hectare vineyard in the Hilltops near Young, launching his first wine under his own label in 2004: Freeman Secco Rondinella Corvina, a ground-breaking wine, as it’s Australia’s first - and still its only – wine made from the two key Valpolicella grapes.

It twice won the trophy for best mature dry red in the NSW Wine Awards. Freeman continues to consult overseas, currently with two vineyard projects in China’s Yunnan province.