Recently, the Young Gun of Wine team decided to revisit a Sangiovese-focused tasting…some five years on from their inaugural ‘Deep Dive into Sangiovese’ in 2019.
Exerts from the article can be found below, or read the full article here.
Sangiovese is Italy’s most widely planted grape variety. In Australia, Sangiovese didn’t really start making inroads until the late 1980’s, but after a slow start, it is now making quite an impression, with it popping up in most of Australia’s wine regions. Five years after our inaugural Deep Dive into Sangiovese, it’s an apt time to again cast our eyes across the landscape.
The tasting panel:
- Yuki Hirose MS, head sommelier Lucas Restaurants;
- Alex Meikle-Briggs, Head Sommelier, Grossi Restaurants;
- Duncan Lloyd, winemaker, Coriole;
- Madeleine Marson, winemaker, Vinea Marson;
- Iona Baker, Italian wine importer, Trembath & Taylor;
- Isabella Greco, Sommelier;
- Andrew Wyse, Sommelier and Importer, Cardwell Cellars;
- Sacha Imrie, Sommelier, Daughter In Law.
They gathered every (current) example possible you’d find in Australia, and set the panel the tasks of finding the wines that compelled them the most. All wines were tasted blind, and each panelist named their top six wines. Below are the top wines from the tasting, as per the YGOW article:
2022 Berrigan Sangiovese, Adelaide Hills $34.95 RRP
2022 Pizzini ‘Petra Rossa’ Sangiovese, King Valley $29 RRP
2019 Fighting Gully Road ‘La Longa’ Sangiovese, Beechworth $70 RRP
2022 Freeman ‘Altura Vineyard’ Sangiovese, Hilltops $40 RRP
2022 Banks Road Sangiovese, Heathcote $45 RRP
2022 Sawyer Sangiovese, Adelaide Hills $30 RRP
2022 Mitolo ‘Cinquecento’ Sangiovese, McLaren Vale $42 RRP
2022 Paxton Sangiovese, McLaren Vale $35 RRP
2023 Babche Wines Sangiovese, Pyrenees $43 RRP
2022 Shy Susan Sangiovese, Alpine Valleys $65 RRP
2019 Vinea Marson Sangiovese, Heathcote $42 RRP
2022 Ngeringa Sangiovese, Adelaide Hills $45 RRP
2022 Unico Zelo Sangiovese, Clare Valley $34.99 RRP
2022 Tar & Roses Sangiovese, Heathcote $29 RRP
2022 Pizzini ‘Forza Di Ferro’ Sangiovese, King Valley $65 RRP
2019 Star Lane Sangiovese, Beechworth $50 RRP
2022 Coriole ‘Koukala’ Sangiovese, McLaren Vale $65 RRP
2023 Hedonist Sangiovese, McLaren Vale $28 RRP
2023 Pizzini ‘Nonna Gisella’ Sangiovese, King Valley $25 RRP
2022 Pikes ‘Il Premio’ Sangiovese, Clare Valley $75 RRP
2022 Alessandro Stefani ‘Boccolo’ Sangiovese, Yarra Valley $80 RRP
2022 Crittenden ‘Pinocchio’ Sangiovese, King Valley $28 RRP
2022 Garden of Earthly Delights Sangiovese, Heathcote $45 RRP
2019 Santa & D’Sas ‘…Ish’ Sangiovese, King Valley $25 RRP
What they wrote about our 2019 ‘La Longa’:
2019 Fighting Gully Road ‘La Longa’ Sangiovese, Beechworth $70 RRP
Marson’s top wine of the day, with Greco and Wyse also including it in their top-six lists.
Marson wrote: “‘Italianate” in style with layers of fruit and savoury character on the nose. It’s broody and evocative with dark cherries layered with cinnamon, dried herbs and spicy cherry oak on the nose. A standout wine from the nose alone, with evidence of bottle age perhaps.
The palate is more firmly planted in the red fruit spectrum, with ripe red cherries and cherry cola (Dr Pepper?) grading to an enticing savouriness and with some nice acid pulling it altogether. Though the tannins are prominent they are coated by an attractive juiciness, amaro bitterness and a lick of heat on the finish. Almost seamless discerning where the palate finishes and the tannins begin, well integrated and holds all components with a deftness that is simultaneously rich and concentrated. A rich wine that melds Sangiovese’s typical sweetness and spicy savouriness well.”
“Behind the oak, there’s heirloom tomatoes and tomato leaf, espresso grounds, vetiver, and black cherries,” wrote Wyse, “The attack is bursting with crushed cherry fruit and vanilla bean, with elegant layers of plum and blood orange, juicy wild strawberry, rosewater, white button mushroom. Leitmotifs of sandalwood and artichoke form a beautiful Romanesque finish.”
“It reminded me of a Mediterranean summer in southern Italy, the heat and cicadas,” recounted Greco, “This Sangiovese is outspoken, and easy to drink. I’d have it with pasta with ragù or just with fresh tomato base, with white meat, a fresh well-seasoned salad, or even with just some bread and cheese.”
Sangiovese – Our backstory
Sangiovese is Italy’s most important grape, and by a stretch. Now, there would probably be some grumblings about that statement. Both in Italy and abroad, but it’s pretty hard to knock Sangiovese’s credentials.
When chance brought Mark Walpole and fellow Vigneron Alberto Antonini together on an international flight in 1997, the world of alternative varieties in Australia didn’t know what it was in for…The Sangiovese clone that existed in Australia from the 1960’s until that time was a bit like suburban Italian cuisine – a pretty disappointing imitation of the real thing. The decades of free love, radical growth and excess had created demand for grape clones that produced huge quantities, rather than the high quality that Mark and Alberto pursued…Read more.
Feel like nerding out about Sangiovese some more? One of the best nurseries near Beechworth is Chalmers. You can read about varietal characteristics and view Sangiovese clonal comparisons here.