Grape Varietal: Sangiovese

 

(Taken from: http://www.vinosite.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sangiovese-blog.jpg)

 Sangiovese: "The Blood of Jove"

Sangiovese has a bitter-sweet taste. It is a highly acidic grape. Young Sangiovese tastes fruity, like berries--particularly strawberries and prunes. It has earthy component. It has a little bit of spiciness (like cinnamon or clove) to it, too. It is often aged in oak barrels, adding that component. The barrels also add a vanilla taste. It also has an orange tint to it.

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According to Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, the grape is often described as tasting like black cherries, blackberries, and violets. During the winemaking process, they develop flavors of vanilla, spice, and cedar plum.  

  

Sangiovese is a grape that is mostly grown in Tuscany, Italy. It enjoys a warm, dry climate--but not too warm. It takes a longer growing season to grow these grapes. They bud early. They are difficult to grow as they take long to mature and too much warmth will weaken the flavor of the grapes. They also have thin skins which puts them at risk for rot in damp conditions. There are a lot of variations (colonial variation occurs a lot) of Sangiovese.

(Picture to the left taken from:  http://www.wineanorak.com/blog/uploaded_images/errazurizsangiovese-740425.jpg)



(Picture to the right taken from:    http://www.sundaytimeswineclub.co.uk/DWBase/images/wineguide/grape/Sangiovese/article-image.jpg)

 

The top growers of Sangiovese are in Italy, especially Tuscany with 63,000 hectares.

The following are the other most prominent growing areas for Sangiovese:

·      Argentina: 2, 804 hectares

·      Romania: 1,700 hectares

·      France: 1,663 hectares

·      California: 1,371 hectares

·      Australia: 440 hectares

 Below is a map of Tuscany, Italy. One of the clones of Sangiovese, Brunello is widely grown in the Montalcino region shown as a lighter green in the mid-lower section of this map.

(Taken from: http://www.luxury-wines-vietnam.com/images/brunello/map.gif)

 Soil: Although it can adapt to many different types of soil, Sangiovese does well in soil with less fertility. It likes limestone in its soil, which adds to the flavor. It also likes dry shale-clay soil called galestro. 

Wine Library TV

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In Episode #439 – Sangiovese Taste Off of Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV, Gary compares a 2006 Casanova Di Neri Rosso Di Montalcino ($20) and a 2005 Luna Napa Sangiovese ($18).

He describes the first as having a rich, cherry color. He says it is much too young for a Sangiovese, which ties into what I found below about aging Chianti. It smells like rosemary, cherries and rhubarb. Its taste is high in tannin factor, giving it a bitter, dark, deep, and complicated taste. Gary had let these wines breathe for 2 hours. It’s awkward. He got traces of cheese flavors. It had a nice fruit in beginning but it falls apart. It’s chewy and tight, meaning the tannins are getting in the way of other flavors.

The Napa Valley wine had been in an oak barrel for 15 months. It’s too oaky. Gary says it doesn’t taste like classic Sangiovese however. Gary isn’t a fan of either wine. It’s been over-extracted. He felt like he had put jam in mouth (cherry rhubarb flavored). 

He says it goes well with pasta sauce and noodles. 

Chianti

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Chianti is a common blend made with 70% Sangiovese, 15% Canaiolo, and 15% Malvasia bianca. This blend is accredited to Bettino Ricasoli. The wine is thought to date back very far, but it is only traced to the Middle Ages. Sangiovese was thought to be too acidic on its own, but it blended well. Chianti is described as having all the flavors of Sangiovese plus coffee, herb, mint, almond and tobacco flavors. It has a higher acidity, but a lower amount of tannins. During the 1970s, wine producers rejected Chianti, choosing instead to make pure Sangioveses.

Specifications dictate that Chianti must be aged for a minimum of four months to become superiore, and an additional three months before it is released. After thirty-eight months, it can be classified as riserva.

I found it interesting that Chianti used to be sold in a basket to protect the bottle from breakage during shipping.