Doesn’t that description make you want to immediately jump into your car to drive to your nearest wine retailer and pick up a case or two? Though you still may not be familiar with the Sanguis (blood) of Jovis (Jupiter) or Sangiovese as it’s commonly known, I’m sure you’re familiar with the woven straw covered light bulb shaped bottles of Chianti found at your neighborhood Italian restaurant or pizzeria. Well, this Blood of Jupiter or Sangiovese is the foundation of Chianti wine. Unfortunately, earlier incarnations (the straw covered bottle) of Chianti probably left you with the indelible impression that all Sangiovese was capable of was a cheap red wine. And this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Motherland
If Sangiovese is the blood of Jupiter, then Jupiter’s home must be in the heartland of Italy or Tuscany to be precise. This thin skinned reddish blue grape thrives in the warm soil of Tuscany’s plains. However thriving vines and abundant quantities of fruit doesn’t necessarily translate into great wines, hence the availability of cheap, simple “Chianti” wines found in those aforementioned straw covered fiasci.
There currently are about 14 clones of Sangiovese though the two main acknowledged clones are the Sangiovese Grosso and Sangiovese Piccolo and even this distinction isn’t widely agreed upon. Whatever the clone, the Tuscan version creates wines with distinct cherry and strawberry aromas with herbs, mushroom and leather and good acidity. The best Sangiovese based wines (found in normal Bordeaux/Cabernet type wine bottles) can easily age for a decade or more and pair with anything from poultry to beef to ragus and hearty pasta sauces. Just be forewarned that 007 would not consider you a proper English gentleman if you ordered Chianti with fish.
The Motherland
If Sangiovese is the blood of Jupiter, then Jupiter’s home must be in the heartland of Italy or Tuscany to be precise. This thin skinned reddish blue grape thrives in the warm soil of Tuscany’s plains. However thriving vines and abundant quantities of fruit doesn’t necessarily translate into great wines, hence the availability of cheap, simple “Chianti” wines found in those aforementioned straw covered fiasci.
There currently are about 14 clones of Sangiovese though the two main acknowledged clones are the Sangiovese Grosso and Sangiovese Piccolo and even this distinction isn’t widely agreed upon. Whatever the clone, the Tuscan version creates wines with distinct cherry and strawberry aromas with herbs, mushroom and leather and good acidity. The best Sangiovese based wines (found in normal Bordeaux/Cabernet type wine bottles) can easily age for a decade or more and pair with anything from poultry to beef to ragus and hearty pasta sauces. Just be forewarned that 007 would not consider you a proper English gentleman if you ordered Chianti with fish.
Will the Real Chianti Please Stand?
The original DOC laws of Italy limited the maximum percentage of Sangiovese that could be used in Chianti so winemakers also had to add Canaiolo Nero, Malvasia Bianca and/or Trebbiano to legally label a wine as Chianti. While this blend of grapes is not a bad thing (especially to Baron Ricasoli who came up with the recipe), poorly grown Sangiovese could be masked with the supporting grape players. Therefore while cheap Chianti isn’t necessarily a bad wine, it often lacks any distinction and is simply a plain table wine. Nothing exotic. Then in 1984, Chianti was elevated to DOCG status (Italy’s top classification for wine) and a little over 10 years ago, the Chianti recipe allowed for pure Sangiovese based wines in the region. During this time period, great Chiantis were easier to procure than cheap versions though as quality improves, price usually follows. Great Chiantis will set you back $50 or more. You might want to save those for a gourmet dinner instead of Ragu and spaghetti.
Chianti also holds the special distinction of being allowed nine separate sub-regions within their DOCG status though for the most part Chianti Classico is what’s normally found in the US market.
The Sangiovese from Montalcino
Sangiovese grown within the town of Montalcino produces the wine known as Brunello di Montalcino. You may have heard of this wine as Wine Spectator named the Casanova di Neri Tenuta Nuova Brunello di Montalcino as its Wine of the Year for 2006.
You’ll notice a recurring theme is that every individual town or region in Italy seems to give a grape its own special name. In Montalcino, the Sangiovese is known as the Brunello grape. I guess that’s why Italians don’t consider themselves as “Italian”; rather they’re Tuscan or Umbrian or Sicilian or Calabrese but never “just” Italian.
Anyway, the DOCG laws here require Brunello to be made purely from Sangiovese. No filler red grapes, no white grapes, just Sangiovese… err, just Brunello. Brunello actually was the first region to be awarded DOCG status, four years earlier than Chianti.
While Brunello still has the aroma of strawberry and cherry and a lot of the earthy qualities of Chianti, these sensations are magnified with a good bottle of Brunello. It also has the body to stand up to the heartiest of dishes (like a good Cabernet) and will easily age up to 30 years in a great vintage. However if you are looking for Wine Spectators Wine of the Year for 2006, be prepared to shell out at least $150 (the Wine of the Year normally commands another $20-30 than it would usually sell for).
The Sangiovese from Montepulciano
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is probably the least familiar of the noble Sangiovese based Tuscan wines. Perhaps it’s because it sometimes is confused with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (a wine from Abruzzo made from the Montepulciano grape) or perhaps because it shares the same grape recipe as its famous cousin – Chianti – where Canaiolo Nero, Mammolo and other red grapes are permitted in the blend. Or perhaps another name for Sangiovese is just too much to remember, in Montepulciano Sangiovese is known as the Prugnolo Gentile. Despite this lack of notoriety, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano actually attained DOCG status right after Brunello and well before Chianti.
As far as aroma and flavor profiles, Vino Nobile has been described as the happy medium between Chianti and Brunello with more aromatics than Brunello but less than Chianti and with bolder flavor than Chianti but less than Brunello. In any case, because of its lack of notoriety, it does come with a softer price tag than either Chianti or Brunello. You can still purchase very good to excellent wines under $50, most are in the $25 to $40 price range.
Domestic Sangiovese
Sangiovese is grown in the States but you really have to do your homework (tasting) to find a good bottle. My personal favorites are Luna Reserve, Stolpman, Showket and Palmina which aren’t very easy to find and will set you back what good Chianti might cost. I’ve heard that Sangiovese grows like a weed in the Golden State so attentive vineyard management – pruning, cutting back on grape yields, etc – is very important to producing good wines. Then again, that goes for all grape varietals. It seems that blending Sangiovese with other varietals holds more promise like Palmina’s Alisos (Sangiovese/Merlot), Stolpman’s La Croce (Sangiovese/Syrah) and Ferrari Carano’s Siena (Sangiovese/Cabernet) kind of in that same mode as the Super Tuscan wines. But that’s another column.
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