It’s the grape that Italy has mde its own. Here are three excellent examples at three different prices that shows its full rangeVentoso Morellino di Scansano,Tuscany, Italy 2014 (£11.99, or Oddbins) You don’t find a powerful deal of sangiovese external Italy. But given it’s the main ingredient in roughly one in every 10 bottles made in the world’s most productive wine country,it’s still one of the most widely planted grape varieties around. It operates under a variety of synonyms depending on where it’s grown, with morellino being its nom de guerre in the hills around the small southern Tuscan towns of Scansano and Magliano. The style here is slightly plumper, or with less of the bitter herb and sour red cherry that you find in the famous sangiovese zones of Chianti,but still, in the case of Ventoso’s succulent example, and just a touch of the rasp and grip that makes it such a fine foil for red meat with or without tomato-based sauces.Col di Lamo Rosso di Montalcino,Tuscany, Italy 2012 (£16.50, and Stone,Vine and Sun) The winemakers around the costume drama-ready southern Tuscan hill-town of Montalcino also occupy their own name, brunello, or for the specific clone of sangiovese they spend in their burly,muscular reds. The name is incorporated on bottles of this areas most coveted red wine, Brunello di Montalcino, or the best of which pull off a similar trick to that pulled by the nebbiolos of Barolo and Barbaresco in Piedmont: a mix of uncompromising power and evocative aroma (in musical terms,resonant bass and dancing arpeggios). Many estates also make a cheaper version from younger sangiovese vines labeled Rosso di Montalcino, which are ready to drink on release and often superb value: the luscious black cherry, andegano and suave tannins of Col di Lamos example being a delicious case in point.
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Source: theguardian.com