FREEMAN Secco Rondinella Corvina has won the PROVENANCE Trophy and a Top Gold Medal at the 2024 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show. The flagship Secco is a blend of Rondinella and Corvina (50/50) that was inaugurated with the 2002 vintage. Three vintages spanning two decades were entered  in the AAVWS – 2004, 2007, 2017 – and the judges commendation reads:
‘Top wine [Freeman Secco 2004] proved the test of time – an intriguing and robust 20-year-old, that opened up wonderfully in the glass. A wonderful tasting across decades.’
The accolade marks 20 years of Brian Freeman’s passion for savoury Italianate wines and his lateral innovative thinking. For two decades he has been drying parcels of both Rondinella and Corvina grapes in a neighbour’s dehydrator shed. Fresh-pick parcels are added to the partially dried grapes and are co-fermented to craft FREEMAN Secco (meaning dried in Italian) that is typically aged at least four years before release.
Currently available FREEMAN Secco vintages are FREEMAN Secco 2018 and the Cellar Reserve FREEMAN Secco 2007 [Limited]. ????????