TUSCANY, ITALY - 100% HIGH-ELEVATION SANGIOVESE - UN-OAKED
This wine is CRAZY GOOD and oh-so unique! Load up while its on sale and pair it over the coming six years or so with pork chops, steaks, and pastas loaded with mushroom sauces. Elevated Pizza Wine! - Neil
Color: Brilliant, translucent ruby with a slight purple cast at the rim. Luminous rather than opaque, the visual signature of unfiltered, unoaked Sangiovese.
Nose: Wild raspberry and red cherry lead, lifted by dried violets and rose petal. Underneath, the mineral signature insists: wet stone, crushed slate, a saline edge from marine sediments in the galestro. No oak. Just fruit, flower, herb, and stone, the four elements of altitude Sangiovese expressed without intermediation.
Palate: Precise, almost cool attack. The tannins are crunchy and granular, distinctly different from the polished profile that wood produces. High mouth-watering acidity. The finish is long and saline, with the galestro re-emerging for a remarkable seven to ten seconds. No warming alcohol, no oak-derived sweetness.
Serve: 58-62°F. Decant 45 minutes. A Burgundy-style glass, the wider bowl gives the high-toned aromatics room to express.
PAIRINGS
This wine asks for fire and protein. Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the canonical pairing. Cinghiale in umido, roasted lamb with rosemary, grilled lamb chops over wood embers, pici al ragù di cinghiale, tagliata di manzo with arugula and Parmigiano. Aged hard cheeses: Pecorino Toscano 18 months, Parmigiano-Reggiano 30 months.
Counter-intuitive but excellent: high-quality cured meats, particularly finocchiona and aged prosciutto crudo. Mushroom-forward dishes: porcini risotto, pappardelle ai funghi porcini. The wine also handles char-grilled tuna and swordfish, which is unusual for Sangiovese, the absence of oak is precisely what allows it to bridge into firm-fleshed fish.
Pairs exceptionally with elevated American grill cooking: dry-aged ribeye, lamb merguez over charcoal, restrained-rub Texas brisket. The amphora profile bridges European and American gastronomy more gracefully than oak-aged Sangiovese.
