This will come as a shock to loyal readers, and when this brand approached me about trying the wines, I was–of course–skeptical, but after reading thorugh the tech sheets and seeing the appellation and production, decided to accept their offer. I love the wines from eastern Italy along the Adriatic, and it was a fairly bold move for them to even ask. In a nutshell, here we have a solid, quality Sangiovese, light but structured, bone-dry, easily chillable, hardly a flaw in it, and head-and-shoulders better than the vast majority of inexpensive bottles of Chianti or Montepulciano d’Abruzzo available on the US market. 30 to 40 dollars a 3l brings it down into $10/bottle territory, all with no glass, no corks, and basically zero oxidation.
Rather dark ruby in the glass, the packaging states “CHILL ME” but am drinking it at various temperatures from 55 – 65 degrees. It doesn’t change much across this spectrum, and cooling it further would seriously detract. Slight burnt-rubber and gritty asphalt minerality greets the nose, the fruit a dark, blubbery blackberry with gobs of cinnamon and ripe floral.
Vague sweetness on intake primes receptors for the shocking acridity packed into this bottle errrr: I mean box. It’s frankly gorgeous, blisteringly acidic and grainy of spirit and body. I really don’t see any function of chilling this below 60 or so, as it is rather good wine! Brilliant clear cherry trancends the raspiness of structure, creating a finish not-so-soft on tannin as just plain old fruity-dry. Shockingly crisp and going NOWHERE offensive in terms of sugar, fruit-forwardness or obvious manipulation, I honestly can highly recommend this wine.
2021 SANDY GIOVESE ‘Vino Rosso’ Sangiovese/Trebbiano 85/15 Marche Italy 12.0
Stephen McConnell 