Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
However the tannins are remarkably polished,
according to winemaker Emiliano Falsini. “It's
not at all like Nerello Mascalese, where you can
macerate on the skins only for ten days at most
or risk leaching out very dry, astringent tan-
nins. Despite their wealth of polyphenols,
Sagrantino skins can be put through even long
macerations because the tannins are usually
smooth and polished, though there are a lot of
them.” When sagrantino is well made by gifted
producers, it offers rich, brambly black fruit
and aromatic herb aromas and fl avors that are
persistent and pure.
I have tried interesting sagrantinos made in
Australia by Chalmers and Coriole, though
there are many others. These wines are usually
smoother than their Italian counterparts, not a
bad thing in my topic.
Calcinaia estate, among others, has planted
vines and is currently evaluating Sanforte.
Roberto Bandinelli of the University of Flor-
ence told me that the variety's name derives
from its ability to pile up sugar in its berries; in
fact, it was planted in the Lamole zone of Chi-
anti Classico because of this very trait. Lamole
is one of the highest, coolest parts of all of Chi-
anti, and therefore Sanforte was and is ideal to
pump up the anemic Sangiovese wines of those
temperature-challenged areas.
Currently, Sanforte is found in IGT Costa
Toscana wines. I have tried numerous vintages
of the Sanforte wine made at Villa Calcinaia,
and I fi nd it is a more massive wine than the
Sangiovese made at the same estate. The wine
is interesting because it retains a large dose of
elegance, despite its size (always a relative term
with Sangiovese, or in this case Sanforte).
There is plenty to like, from the violet and
underbrush aromas to the dark red cherry and
tarry, almost savory fl avors.
wines to try:
For Montefalco Sagrantino, try:
Antano Milziade*** (Colleallodole), An-
tonelli*** (Sagrantino Chiusa di Pannone,
Sagrantino), Arnaldo Caprai*** (25 Anni and
Collepiano), Fratelli Pardi***, Adanti**,
Colpètrone**, Di Filippo**, Tabarrini** (these
can be some of the most tannic wines around,
sometimes painfully so), Paolo Bea** (biody-
namically made), Perticaia**, Scacciadiavoli*,
and Tenuta Alzatura*. For Montefalco Sagrantino
Passito, try: Colpètrone***, Ruggeri***,
Antonelli**, and Tabarrini**.
Sangiovese
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny, Em i l i a-Rom a g n a ,
Lazio, Marche, Puglia, Sicilia, Umbria.
national registry code number:
218 (num-
ber 96 as Grechetto Rosso, number 201 as Pru-
gnolo Gentile).
color:
red.
Italy's most abundant red variety, and prob-
ably its most important given the extraordi-
narily large number of wines made from it,
Sangiovese is anything but easy. It's neither
easy from a historical viewpoint, with at fi rst
scanty and then copious but contrasting docu-
mentation, nor from a viticultural or enological
perspective, as the variety is one of the more
fi nicky to work with; producing truly great (not
just very good), world-class wines seems possi-
ble only for a lucky or gifted few. All of that,
plus endless confusion about its origin and dif-
ferent family members, makes Sangiovese a
fascinating if complex subject.
There are countless synonyms for this vari-
ety. It is also called Morellino on the Tuscan
coast, Brunello in Montalcino, Prugnolo and
Sanforte
where it's found:
Tu sc a ny.
national regis-
try code number:
412.
color:
red.
Sangiovese Forte, or Sanforte, fi rst men-
tioned by Villifranchi in 1773, has a medium-
sized, pyramidal, and compact bunch with
medium round berries. Its bunch and berries
don't weigh much more on average than those
of a standard Sangiovese clone, but Sanforte is
more fertile and tends to produce more bunches
per plant in similar conditions. Most impor-
tant, it is a much earlier ripener than Sangio-
vese, not a bad thing in those colder parts of
Tuscany such as Chianti. The high-quality Villa
