Your intrepid liquor reporter was out wooing a young lady on one of those newfangled Internet dates, and was faced with that dreaded date-night challenge of choosing a bottle from an extensive wine list.
For the would-be lotharios in the audience, choosing the least expensive bottle can make you look like a cheapskate, and choosing the most expensive bottle can make you look like a sleazeball, so be sure not to offend your date’s sense of impropriety, at least if you want to be nudging her for breakfast the next morning.
Luckily, we were dining in an Italian restaurant, and there was a fine selection of Sangiovese to be had.
For those not familiar with this grape, Sangiovese is the most widely planted grape in Italy, and takes its name from the Latin term for the Blood of Jove, also known as Jupiter, who was the big kahuna of all the ancient Roman Gods.
With a name like that, Sangiovese has some pretty big shoes to fill, which it usually manages to do nicely.
As one of the stuffy old-world wine countries, Italy labels their wine bottles with the region the grapes were grown, rather than with the name of the grape in the bottle.
This makes it confusing for consumers, as it is never clear from the label exactly what grape is in a particular bottle.
In this case, since Sangiovese is the most popular grape in Italy, odds are good that your Italian wine contains at least some Sangiovese.
For example, if you have ever ordered a bottle of Chianti, you were actually drinking Sangiovese. Chianti refers to a particular wine growing region in Italy, and the classic formula for Chianti is 80% Sangiovese, blended with smaller amounts of other grapes like Trebbiano, Merlot, and Cab Sauv.
Brunello is another famous Italian wine that is made exclusively from the Sangiovese grape, and is always highly sought by the wine snobs of the world. Since the geographical designation for Brunello is quite small, its strong reputation means that prices are consistently high.
Brunello has been produced since the 14th century, and was thought to be its own grape varietal until the 19th century, when genetic testing found it to be identical to Sangiovese. Due to the unique terroir around the Tuscan village of Brunello di Montalcino, Brunello wines have excellent aging potential, with some aged as long as 20 years in oak barrels before being bottled for the public.
Brunello is required by law to be 100% Sangiovese grapes, and there was a huge scandal in 2008, when some unscrupulous winemakers were discovered blending Merlot and other varietals into their Sangiovese to soften the tannin levels to make them more mass-market friendly.
Since then, several winemakers have taken to calling their wines Super Tuscans instead of Brunello, just to get around the strict wine labelling laws in the European Union. This has actually done wonders for Italian wines in the export markets, as North American consumers have never really understood how European wines were labelled.
All wines made from the Sangiovese grape have plenty of tannic structure and high acidity, which makes them a natural for pairing with food, especially rich Italian food.
Wines made from 100% Sangiovese pair well with pasta dishes containing herb seasonings like basil and sage, which help bring out the herbal notes in the grapes. These are the classically traditional Sangiovese wines, which the Italians drink by the gallon, making Sangiovese the most popular wine in the domestic Italian market.
The more mass-market Sangiovese wines blended with other noble grapes like Merlot and Cab Sauv tend to have a fuller body, making them a better match for more robust foods like steak or pork roast. Similar styles have also popped up in Australia and California, where plantings of the Sangiovese grape have thrived in the new world.
So, if you are looking for an Italian wine to enjoy with your favourite wine snob, go with a 100% Sangiovese bottling like a Brunello, which will set you back $50-$100 at your local booze merchant, or double to triple that at a fine restaurant. For mere mortal wine lovers, stick with the more approachable Super Tuscan blends for half the price, which tend to have softer tannins that are more approachable by the teeming millions that make up the mass market.
