Reports from our Readers

Logo of Rassegna Internazionale del Sangiovese Annual tasting event featuring worldwide Sangiovese wines (Imola / Emilia Romagna - November 4th/12th)

TOSCANA IGT SANGIOVESE
© by Luca Mazzoleni

INTRODUCTION

Sangiovese has always been the predominant grape variety of inland Tuscany. Nowadays it accounts for 10% of Italy's total vineyard acreage: 86.200 hectares, a statistic which makes Sangiovese the most widely planted native grape variety throughout Italy, followed by Catarratto, Trebbiano Toscano and Barbera [the whole family of Trebbiano grapes - including Trebbiano di Romagna, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, Trebbiano di Soave, Trebbiano Verde and Trebbiano Giallo - totals 94.000 hectares; source of data: Corriere Vinicolo / Enotria Annuario della Vite e del Vino, 1998-2002].

Sangiovese is found in many regions and wine-growing areas of Italy, and it is recommended or required as either a blending or a primary grape variety in over 150 DOC wine appellations nationwide. In Tuscany alone, no less than 25 appellations require Sangiovese as the main grape variety in the blend. Boasting over 85.000 hectares planted all over Italy - from Veneto to Apulia - and over 20 homologated clones marketed by Italian grape nurseries, Sangiovese may very well be regarded as the backbone of Italy's red wine production and the most widespread Italian variety of Vitis vinifera in Italy and abroad (plantings of Sangiovese are found in California, Washington, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Australia).

Yet, in spite of the aforementioned agronomic data and capillary dispersion over the Italian territory, Sangiovese as a grape doesn't cease to fuel debate among researchers, enologists, vintners, journalists, wine buyers and wine collectors. Why are Sangiovese and resulting varietal wines so much debated in Italy and abroad, and regarded as controversial?

To begin with, it's worth noting that Sangiovese is a "population of grapes," rather than a consistent and homogeneous variety of Vitis vinifera. The intra-specific variability featured by the array of clones found throughout Tuscan vineyards is stunning: plants of Sangiovese very unlike one from the other are oftentimes grown in the same vineyard, along the same row of vines even. Such vast and disconcerting morphologic / phenotypic variability inevitably results in Sangiovese varietal wines featuring notably diverse organoleptic traits.

But the main reason why Sangiovese as a wine-grape is criticized by a number of enologists, producers and wine tasters is the overall stern, angular and almost aggressive nature of its sensorial profile. Aromas and flavors appear overly sharp, dry and brisk to some (just luminous, fragrant and airy, others reply); the palate is almost invariably loaded with incisive and very sapid acidity, and laced with thin but scratchy/drying tannins (at times really disjointed from the rest of the texture and distinctly stem-infused).

In this sense, it's perhaps significant that Tuscan tradition has it that Sangiovese should always be blended with other grape varieties, such as the native Canaiolo, Mammolo, Malvasia Nera or Colorino (or even white-berried ones, such as Malvasia del Chianti and Trebbiano Toscano, which grapes will be officially expelled from Chianti Classico DOCG from 2005 vintage onwards). In recent years, not-so-native Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah have been increasingly preferred to Tuscan cultivars. Montalcino-grown mono-varietal Sangiovese wines - Brunello di Montalcino DOCg and Rosso di Montalcino DOC - have always been the notable exception to the long-established tradition of blending Sangiovese with other grapes.

Since the mid XIX century, when Barone Bettino Ricasoli tried to define a "golden formula" for the Chianti Classico grape composition (dismissing French varieties in favor of Canaiolo and Malvasia Nera, for instance), the austere and curt personality of Sangiovese has always been smoothed out and balanced through the help of other "softening grapes", richer in color and lower in acidity and tannin. Whatever the native grapes once used by Tuscan vintners for blending, Sangiovese always accounted for at least 75-80%.

The ancient Tuscan custom of blending Sangiovese with native red-berried grape varieties ostensibly originates from the aforementioned organoleptic asperities common to the Sangiovese varietal wines (that are a slightly hollow/concave/tart aromatic spectrum, trenchant acidity and greenish/stems-tasting tannins), but it also originates from a number of peculiar agronomic and enological issues (or shortcomings, some malign) inborn in this love-or-hate cultivar.

Growing Sangiovese and transforming the crop into wine is anything but a simple and obvious endeavor for Tuscan winemakers. It will suffice to randomly interview a number of vintners who own and work vineyards in central Tuscany to get an eloquent depiction of the many critical complexities involved in Sangiovese winemaking, such as:

1. Notable variations in the process of ripening are observed from one clone of Sangiovese to the other.
2. The curve of phenolic ripening featured by Sangiovese throughout the growing season is irregular, hardly predictable and inconsistent, and unlike that exhibited by classic red-berried wine-grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah or Merlot. Overall, full phenolic ripeness occurs in Sangiovese grapes as late as early/mid October, even in the case of quality-oriented and low-yielding clones.
3. Color and tannin extraction from solid parts of the crush is always a complex and delicate process when it comes to Sangiovese. This is the case even in high-quality/high-ripeness vintages, primarily because of hard-to-ripen seeds and stems (the latter accounting for 5-6% of the total weight of the bunch in certain clones). The overall large sized berry is another issue, since it makes the chemical compounds responsible for the catalysis of the aromatic precursors quite far from the skin, where said aromatic precursors are found.
4. Total acidity can go as high as 6.5 gr./lt., while pH ranges from 3,3 to 3,5 overall. It means Sangiovese is a varietal wine featuring mouthwatering level of natural acidity, which data - combined with the typical impression of salinity imparted by Tuscan terroir - makes many Sangiovese wines taste piercing, austere and narrow on the palate. As much as a sound level of acidity plays a crucial role in the making of fine, ageworthy and minimally manipulated wines, an excess can make the final wine to taste overly dry and tight, and accelerates precocious drying and fading in the bottle (especially whereof the fruit texture is not ripe and deep enough to bear and balance the high content of total acidity and the low pH).

These are but some of the critical agronomic givens that make enologists in Italy and Tuscany wonder whether Sangiovese can be or not be a grape variety that is well-versed/apt to producing deeply colored, lusciously fruity, barrique-aged, gobby/hedonistic super-international wines ... (is this the kind of wine that is most desirable producers in Tuscany to take out of Sangiovese?). As one of the most prominent and experienced Tuscan consulting winemakers once put it: "Sangiovese is great, but only when helped by international cultivars".

Last but not least ... Sangiovese is dramatically sensitive to terroir, so much so that it has been well understood since long ago - since Grand Duke Cosimo III's first delimitation of the Chianti growing area in 1706 - that not all of Tuscany is good for growing this irritatingly demanding grape variety, not even all of central Tuscany (Chianti, Montalcino, Montepulciano). Above or below certain altitude levels (below 200 m. / above 500 m. a.s.l.), and in certain geologic sites (acid/loamy/heavily clayey soils) Sangiovese hardly ever yields a satisfactory outcome. Sangiovese requires limestone-based soils with balanced content of clay and schist, constant sunlight (but not heat and overly high temperatures) and regular day/night temperature variation (especially throughout the final part of the growing season). Not by chance there's been recurring talk lately among technicians and agronomists in Tuscany about the eventuality of carrying out a "zonazione" (a map/zoning of all areas in mainland Tuscany highly suited to Sangiovese growing). As most of producers and consulting agronomists point out, it seems inevitable and unarguable to a degree that grape varieties other than Sangiovese should be planted in vine-sites of central Tuscany unsuited to Sangiovese.

Sant'Angelo in Percussina: headquarters of Consorzio Marchio Storico Chianti Classico

Given all mentioned issues concerning Sangiovese grape-growing and winemaking, it's no surprise that over the past decade both public research institutes and private enological laboratories in Tuscany have been trying to find solutions to the inborn limitations of this grape. In their attempt to make Sangiovese winemaking a somewhat easier and less uncertain venture, researchers followed two guidelines: 1) clonal selection (mid to long term period); 2) innovation /advancement of the cellar protocol, with special attention paid to the method of maceration and to micro-oxygenation during wood aging (short-term impact).

As for the first point it's worth noting that as early as in 1988 Consorzio Marchio Storico Chianti Classico defined, promoted, financed and launched a long-term research plan focusing on agronomic experimentations and clonal selection, named Progetto Chianti Classico 2000, in partnership with the University of Pisa and the University of Florence. Progetto Chianti Classico 2000 involved 12 leading wineries located in Chianti Classico as participants, where experimental plantings of selected Sangiovese clones were set and monitored over a decade (participant wineries: Badia a Coltibuono - Fontodi - Castello di Albola - Lilliano - Rodano - Castello di Cacchiano - Selvole - San Felice - Isole e Olena - La Madonnina Triacca - San Nicola a Pisignano - Castello di Rencine). Micro-vinifications were carried out from every single plot of clones from year 1993 to 2000.

In the year 2000, at the end of the said research plan - comprised of 14 experimental vineyards stretching over 25 ha., 10 agro-meteorological stations and 203 micro-fermenters - 180 presumed clones of Sangiovese were isolated, along with 54 clones of Canaiolo and 5 clones of Colorino. Out of this wide range of "presumed clones", 22 clones of Sangiovese, 10 clones of Canaiolo and 2 clones of Colorino were selected. Finally, further agronomic tests led to the homologation of 4 new clones of Sangiovese in Catalogo Nazionale delle Varietà di Viti: CC 2000/1; CC 2000/2; CC 2000/3; CC 2000/4.

In its turn, the University of Milan recently released three new quality-oriented clones of Sangiovese as well, selected separately from Progetto Chianti Classico 2000. They are PF30, Janus10 and Janus50.

However good single these new clones of Sangiovese may be (and the few agronomists in Tuscany who had a chance to work on them say the difference is tangible), there's no risk of having mono-clonal Sangiovese wines being produced in the future, as researchers pointed out clearly that finest Sangiovese wines will always be made from a well-balanced blend of diverse and complementary clones (each one best adapted to a certain specific geo-climatic vine site).

A few clones of Sangiovese, to appreciate phenotypic variability. Courtesy of Vivai Riuniti Cenaia (left to right: AP_SG2 / F20 CH /F21 CH / F22 CH / R24 / SS_F9_A4_48)

I would like to quote an important passage from the speech given by Prof. Attilio Scienza (University of Milan) in Imola during 2000 Rassegna Internazionale del Sangiovese:

For decades now clone selection on Sangiovese has focused on indexes such as acidity and sugar accumulation. This way the size of the berry and the crucial role played by the skin with its secondary vine metabolites have been completely overlooked. Nowadays we know that flavor and aroma precursors (such as terpenoids and phenylpropanoids) are located in the skin, and we know that the size of the berry itself matters a lot in the complex process of the synthesis of aroma precursors. Correct and even phenolic ripeness occurs in Sangiovese grapes when chemical compounds catalyzing aromatic precursors - typically found at the center of the berry - are located at a short distance from the skin. To achieve this goal, we need a range of new clones of Sangiovese featuring smaller berry size and the thickest skin.

As for short-term cellar solutions, it has to be noted that advanced techniques such as pre-fermentative cold-maceration and micro-oxygenation have been widely experimented and employed in the past decade by Tuscan enologists, in order to take out the maximum aromatic freshness and phenolic richness from harvested Sangiovese grapes. In particular, I would like to cite the experiments on pre-fermentative cold-soaking and grape-seeds sensorial analysis carried out by Dott. Claudio Gori and his research team at VinoVigna (http://www.vinovigna.com.

Find abstracts at:
http://www.vinovigna.com/servizi/news/analisiuve1999.asp?lng=ENG;
http://www.vinovigna.com/servizi/news/analisiuve2000.asp?lng=ENG;
http://www.vinovigna.com/servizi/news/mpf2001.asp?lng=ENG;
http://www.vinovigna.com/servizi/news/macerazione2000.asp?lng=ENG

State-of-the-Art of Sangiovese grape-growing and winemaking is well summarized by Prof. Mario Bertuccioli (University of Florence), a well-respected authority when it comes to the great cultivar native of Tuscany:

We have plenty of data and know pretty much everything about Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah and the way these wine-grapes ripen and transform into wine. [...] Comparatively, we know very little on Sangiovese, as over the past 50 years Tuscan wineries have passed from Sangiovese being used for mass-market wine production to Sangiovese being used for high-quality wine production. Because of the sun-drenched and relatively warm climate of Tuscany, Sangiovese has not been submitted by Tuscan vintners to the same process of continuous empirical clonal selection as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah were submitted to in cool-climate regions of France. Thus, still nowadays, Sangiovese cannot be defined as a consistent and homogeneous grape variety, unlike - say - Cabernet Sauvignon, on which a 70-year-long track record of sensorial/enological analysis is available. [...] When Tuscan wine-growers plant a vineyard of Sangiovese, and then blend the resulting wine with some Cabernet or Merlot, that's the ultimate proof that there is no clear cause-effect correlation between what Sangiovese is in the vineyard and what Sangiovese turns out to be as wine in the cellar. What we researchers are trying to do is to find out effective principles for successful Sangiovese grape-growing, in order to make Sangiovese winemaking a less erratic and uncertain venture. Ultimately, we look forward to defining profiles of sensorial typicity and profiles of sensorial ripeness for this unique wine grape native of Tuscany

Needless to say, the typology of vine plantings settled throughout Tuscany during the 60's and 70's, when large part of Sangiovese vineyards were redone and replanted, still affects and influences the overall quality level of Sangiovese wines being currently produced in Tuscany. At that time viticulture and winemaking (and the demand arising from the wine market itself) were based on radically different guidelines: i.e. lower vine density x ha. to allow mechanization; rootstocks and training systems oriented to disease-resistance, good vigor and consistent production. Plantings of Sangiovese settled from the late 80's up to nowadays followed viticultural guidelines based on the new paradigm of wine quality: low vigor rootstocks, Guyot and Cordone Speronato training systems, low-yielding clones featuring thicker skin and richer content of polyphenols and aroma precursors.

Well ... after such a long, detailed and unbiased critique of Sangiovese as cultivar, I would like to spend a word in favor of this ancient Tuscan variety. Sangiovese is by no mean to everybody's taste, but it's likely to be the ultimate varietal wine for consumers in search for aromas that are luminously Mediterranean, soberly delineated and lithely floral and "berryish," and for those who are in search for invigorating acidity, acute salinity and extreme gastronomic versatility. If this organoleptic profile matches your standard of taste, well, Sangiovese will definitely deliver to you.

To end, a final question. Over the past 10/20 years modernists in the realm of Tuscan winemaking have tried to blend Sangiovese with a number of international grape varieties. At times they have replaced one international cultivar with the other vintage after vintage... in the grape composition of their expensive Supertuscans. First came Cabernet Sauvignon (the 80's), then Merlot (the 90's) and today is the turn of Syrah and Petit Verdot (that is when it's not the case of Primitivo, Nero d'Avola and Negroamaro, whether declared or not). Such colorful roulette in the grape variety judged as best complement to Sangiovese raises the obvious question: "What exactly does Sangiovese lack, if so diverse grape varieties have been chosen, tried and gradually dismissed as ideal blending companion over the years?"

Considering the exposed facts and statistics, the only emerging certainty seems to be that the real potential of Sangiovese as wine-grape will be thoroughly explored and tested only through the coming years and decades, once the amazing phenotypic variability featured by this cultivar has been considerably reduced and rationalized.

Sangiovese: Profile of sensorial typicity

Records of agronomic/enological indexes and statements from authoritative Tuscan agronomists are consistent and make for a positive appraisal of 1999 vintage as for Sangiovese-based wines grown in central Tuscany (Chianti Classico - Montalcino - Montepulciano). Experienced and widely recognized winemakers such as Vittorio Fiore, Attilio Pagli, Claudio Gori, Gabriella Tani and Matteo Mazzamurro conveyed the idea of 1999 as a vintage yielding Sangiovese of medium to high color concentration, moderate alcohol content, sound acidity and well-ripened grape tannins, characterized by bright and extremely espressive/varietal aromas.

The profile of the 1999 growing season turned out as rather uniform and homogeneous throughout the major wine-districts of mainland Tuscany: budbreak and flowering occurred a little earlier than average, thanks to the mild early Spring temperatures (no hard early spring frosts occurred); abundant rainfalls through May to mid June made for rich hydrologic reserves right in time for the summer, so that no troubles of drought or water deficiency were experienced during the hot months of July and August (unlike in 1998 and especially 2000 vintage). Temperatures in summertime were higher than average, with days above 30ºC being more frequent than in 1998 and 1997 vintage. Scattered and light rainfalls at the end of August were followed by a warm and sunny weather all through the month of September, thus permitting Sangiovese grapes to attain full phenolic ripeness at sound alcohol levels. During the first half of October light more rainfalls occurred again, but not to the extent of being detrimental to the sanitary conditions and the ripeness of Sangiovese grapes ready to be harvested. Overall, 1999 Sangiovese from mainland Tuscany feature the following enological indexes: total acidity a little lower than average, pH a little higher than average, solid if not exceptional levels of anthocyanins and total polyphenols into the solid parts of the bunch, medium to high alcohol content, well ripened grape stems and grape seeds. Enological data appear particularly successful with reference to Sangiovese wines grown in high-altitude vine-sites, where the relatively late-ripening curve of the final part of the season permitted to harvest grapes loaded with optimal concentration of both phenolics and aromas. As Dott.sa Gabriella Tani puts it: "to its best 1999 Sangiovese rival with 1997 and 1990 counterparts in terms of structure and balance, overall they remind me of a medium-sized, graceful and elegant vintage such as 1993." Matteo Mazzamurro, specialist of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano with many vintages on his shoulders, said: "Sangiovese grapes picked in 1999 vintage did not result in Vino Nobile di Montepulciano of massive structure or impressive fruit concentration, yet at their best the wines are very perfumed, softly textured, well balanced and tasty. Acidity is a little lower than average, but by no means too soft or bland".

From the standpoint of wine-tasting, my experience of Chianti Classico 1999 and Chianti Classico Riserva 1999 (Anteprima Chianti Classico, February 2002), Toscana IGT Sangiovese 1999 and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 1999, and Rosso di Montalcino 1999 (Benvenuto Brunello, February 2001) has proved an overall extremely satisfactory quality level, with peaks of real excellence. Chianti Classico 1999 and Rosso di Montalcino 1999, in particular, appear to my eyes as some of finest achievements in Sangiovese winemaking since 1990.

All the following Toscana IGT Sangiovese 1999 have been repeatedly blind-tasted with consistent notes. I prefer to not express any numeric evaluation or normative judgment on the wines, rather to just offer a simple categorization of the style of the wines that may be of some help to readers:

International-styled Sangiovese, based on color and new oak

Toscana IGT Torrione - FATTORIA DI PETROLO
Toscana IGT Purosangue - LIVERNANO
Toscana IGT Manero - FATTORIA DEL CERRO
Alta Valle del Greve IGT Il Carbonaione - POGGIO SCALETTE

Too ripe or too evanescent/uneven: disappointments...

Toscana IGT Spargolo - CECCHI
Toscana IGT Sangioveto - BADIA A COLTIBUONO
Toscana IGT Le Pergole Torte - MONTEVERTINE
Toscana IGT Birba - LA GERLA

Subtlety and grace, more than power

Toscana IGT Prelato di Massanera - MASSANERA

Love-or-Hate Sangiovese of extreme personality

Toscana IGT Cavaliere - SATTA
Toscana IGT Flaccianello della Pieve - FONTODI
Toscana IGT Cepparello - ISOLE E OLENA
Toscana IGT Percarlo - SAN GIUSTO A RENTENNANO
Colli della Toscana Centrale Anagallis - TENUTA DI LILLIANO

Very good to great Sangiovese

Toscana IGT Geremia - ROCCA DI MONTEGROSSI
Toscana IGT La Gioia di Riecine - RIECINE
Toscana IGT Etrusco - CENNATOIO
Toscana IGT Pian Del Cipresso - TERRABIANCA
Toscana IGT Quattrocentenario - CASTELLO DELLA PANERETTA
Toscana IGT Sangioveto - PODERE SAN LUIGI
Val di Cornia Riserva DOC - GUALDO DEL RE

Classics

Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT Podere Brizio - PODERE BRIZIO
Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT Anfiteatro - VECCHIE TERRE DI MONTEFILI
Toscana IGT Fontalloro - FATTORIA DI FELSINA
Toscana IGT I Sodi di San Niccolò - CASTELLARE IN CASTELLINA

A bunch of ripe Sangiovese
Courtesy of Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo

© Luca Mazzoleni

All contents © copyright 1981-2008 by Robin Garr, www.WineLoversPage.com

Cliffwood Organic Works