One sunny Tuesday in spring, my partner and I were driving home to our place in the Perth Hills after lunch at the bottom of the range. It was the day before he was heading back on shift for a week, and those days are always a bit of a downer. We decided to take a scenic drive home through Perth’s wine region, the Swan Valley. It was only 20 minutes from home and a nice way to cling to our last day of hanging out together for a week. The catch is, lots of wineries are closed early in the week (Mon, Tues, Weds) because the weekends are when they have the most patronage. I quickly Googled which ones were open on a Tuesday and found one called ‘Vino Italia’ popped up on the search results. “Let’s check it out” I said!
Ha! – what came next was a surprise and a delight. We followed the directions to the winery and found ourselves at a 1980s brick home with a big silver shed at the rear, and extensive vineyards behind that. No airs and graces, actually the complete opposite. A pretty rough and ready sign out the front was the only give away that we were indeed at a winery open to the public. So, we drove down the driveway to the shed behind the house and found the big door ajar with a sign indicating that was indeed where potential wine drinkers and purchasers should direct their attention.
Through the door we ventured and were greeted by oak barrels filled with wine, a few huge steel vats, a small bar on the left with a bunch of wine bottles sitting on top and three book shelves behind the bar. An older gentleman was leaning over a trolley pushing it along with a load of wine on top. Okay, okay – he was using the trolley as a walking frame. He trundled over to the bar and started chatting to us in a thick Italian accent. He asked if we wanted to try some wine and with that, he put two water glasses on the bar in front of us and pushed the stack of bottles towards us; “Try what you like” he said with the normal Italian arm waving that accompanies most of their conversation.
My partner and I looked at each other and smiled – we knew we had just found something really different; really special. We introduced ourselves and with that, we met Eugenio Valenti, or “Gino” as he introduced himself to us. My eyes were drawn to the shelves behind him. Big glass bottles with ‘2L $15’ on labels in front of them. I had some reservations about what we were about to consume. We tried some Grenache, and it was good. It was really good. Then the Shiraz, also good! Gino admitted very early in our chats that he makes wine with tradition, not science. So here we were chatting with this lovely traditional Italian winemaker about all manner of things, including how he came to be making wine in the Swan Valley.
Arriving in Australia in the 1940s, Gino commenced work in Kalgoorlie and saw an opportunity to provide much loved Sherry to his comrades working east of Perth. He and his brother in law Alessandro Calabrese decided to purchase land in the Swan Valley and began growing grapes to make wine and sherry in the early 1950s. Now 72 acres, they grow fruit for not only their own wine production but many other wineries in the South West. In fact, just down the road, we tried a Grenache at Windy Creek Estate that has won gold medals using Gino and Alessandro’s grapes!
These two grandfathers of the winemaking industry of the Swan Valley were a true gem to discover and we love sharing our story of meeting Gino with many of our friends. If you are in the Swan Valley I urge you to stop in Vino Italia for a chat and to sample the wine. We always make a point of stopping in when we are in Perth now – and why not? We get a $2 discount when we take our 2L bottles back to Gino. Something every Italian in Perth takes advantage of it seems.
As for the wine; it is good quality Italian table wine. That means it is not the necessarily the most complex of wines you could try in the region. It is however, a delight to share with friends over a meal like pizza or BBQ on the cooler nights. At $13 for 2L (with bottle trade in) a big batch of Sangria is a perfect way to share Vino Italia’s wine with friends. Not to mention a great conversation starter when you slap a massive flagon of red wine on the table. Saluti!