When we talk about the world’s greatest red wine grapes, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon are often two of the most obvious candidates that are touted among the most famous, but I’d also say that Sangiovese from Italy should be in the same consideration. Brunello, Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, are all made from Sangiovese. This grape is grown throughout Italy, but is Native to Tuscany and is the backbone of all their most famous historic wines. Sangiovese is a bit like an Italian Pinot Noir, but with a bit more body. It’s famous for being very reflective of it’s terroir. It’s very savoury in profile and leans into leathery and earthy flavours. So this week we’re going to look at Sangiovese in its finest forms, throughout Tuscany at various price points.

We’ll starting with one of the best, most accessible, everyday Chianti’s that will fit as well with a Tuesday pasta as a Saturday night party: food friendly and super delicious. But from there we shift gears to the more famous and more seriously built wines with decades (or centuries) of reputation for the best of Chianti Classico, Brunello, and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. AND, as I’ve been doing since New Year’s, we’ll have a Saturday online Zoom tasting to work through all these together. If you’d like to participate, just pick up all or any of these from the Byward Market/La Bottega Nicastro in Ottawa, Pan Chancho in Kingston, or for home delivery by the case from Lifford Wines. I have details on where to get each wine below. Once you’ve got your wine(s) just send me a note saying you’d like to join the tasting and I’ll send you the Zoom link on Saturday! And if you really want to maximize the experience, you can pick up all the best Tuscan meats, cheeses, and pasta at La Bottega Nicastro in Ottawa or at Pan Chancho in Kingston. Hope to see you then!

Poggio Morino vineyards and forest in Tuscany.

POGGIO MORINO, CHIANTI 2018
$20 at La Bottega Nicastro in Ottawa and Pan Chancho, or $16.99 x12 from Lifford Wines.
Let’s start from the broadest perspective, a nice overall Chianti. Chianti is a region within Tuscany and the wines that carry the Chianti name need to be at least 80% Sangiovese. There’s some traditional grapes that can be blended in like Canaiolo and Marema** or even Trebbiano (a white grape), but this one is 100% Sangiovese. It’s fermented in stainless steel to preserve fresh fruit flavours then aged in large Slovanian oak barrels to develop further complexity. Poggio Morino is named for the hill near once of the vineyards, and apparently the surrounding woods are home to various owls…thus the label…see link to Lifford page above. Aside from the cute owls on the bottle, what I really like about this wine is that for the $20 (or less by the case), this wine really shows some good Sangiovese character. Many inexpensive Chiantis often drink like what I call “juicy juice”…simple, juicy wines that aren’t really expressive of a place, and could really be anything…kinda homogeneous. But from the first time I tasted the Poggio Morino, it really stood out as a very decent Chianti, especially for the price. Yes it’s still a $17 Chianti, but shows more complexity and varietal typicity than you might expect at that price point. Right off the bat on the nose you get notes of dried Italian spices that I think of like the Clubhouse Italiano blend. That plus cherries, flowers, and a bit of earth. A really great bottle of wine for the price.

The range of Felsina’s famous Sangioveses.

FELSINA, CHIANTI CLASSICO 2018
$44 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho, or $39.99 x6 at Lifford Wines.
Felsina is one of those iconic wineries that is regarded as the benchmark of its region. Of the few handfuls of very top tier of Chianti Classico producers, Felisina is more often than not seen as the leader of the pack. The winery dates back to Roman times, and the current owners were also part of the revitalization of Chianti’s reputation that began in the 1970’s. Following the Second World War, the quality and reputation of many Italian wines had taken a dive due to the producers focusing on cheap volume rather than quality. Chianti became synonymous with cheap red wine in the straw baskets, not something that was considered fine wine comparable to Burgundy or Bordeaux. In the 1960’s the Poggiali family purchased the Felsina estate intending to revive it to former glory. And in the 1970’s Giuseppe Mazzocolin, a humanities professor married into the family and took the reins as head winemaker. His zeal for history and authenticity led Felsina to be a pioneering winery in the revitalization of Chianti’s reputation.

Felsina is located right on the southern border of Chianti Classico, the dirt road beside it’s Rancia vineyard is the border to the neighbouring Chianti Colli Senesi zone. Their estate is over 600 hectares and only 95 are planted to vines. Everything is farmed organically and they require having a game warden on staff to mitigate all the wild board populations from decimating the grapes. The area has been seen as a frontier land of Chianti Classico and they’re one of Sangiovese’s most famous flag bearers. The soil is limestone, marl, sandstone, silt, clay, and marine sediments from millennia ago when it was all under water. It puts together a wine that shows notes of wild berries, earth, and various dried herbs and spices. In a word, Felsina embodies the very best quality, class, and elegance that the very best Chianti Classico has to offer and should not be missed by any Sangiovese fan.

Many Brunellos + Steak and roasted brussel sprouts = 100% awesome

IL POGGIONE, BRUNELLO 2014
$75 per bottle at La Bottega Nicastro and Pan Chancho, or $74.99 x6 from Lifford Wines.
In an effort to encourage Brunello drinking, La Bottega has offered $5 off the usual $80 price for this week’s Sangiovese feature. Let's have a Brunello Zoom party on Saturday! Il Poggione was founded in 1896 and it was one of the first 3 founding wineries of the Brunello DOC (later DOCG). However you want to put it, these guys are the pioneers, the founding fathers, or the OG’s of Brunello. And they don’t rest on their laurels or coast by on their historic reputation. Year after year Il Poggione is one of the very best, most critcally acclaimed, and highest rated Brunellos being produced. It’s hard to understate how legit these guys are. And one of the coolest things is that the original family continues to own it 3 or 4 generations later, and they continue to employ the same family that have been the winemakers and vineyard managers 3 or 4 generations later as well. The kids of the vineyard owners grew up with the kids of the winemaker, and the grand kids with the grand kids, etc. A true family business continuing through the generations, all the while kicking ass and taking names, delivering the very finest Brunello known to man. Click here for a beautiful video of their property in the very heart of Montalcino. And they’re no strangers to Ottawa. Just last November…or rather 2 Novembers ago (as covid year doesn’t count) Francesa Bindocci, the next generation of the winemaking side of the Il Poggione families was here for a winemaker’s dinner at North & Navy and to visit some clients, like this wonderful lunch we had at the Shore Club, pictured here.

Legally, Brunello wines must be made from 100% Sangiovese Grosso and must be aged a minimum of 2 years in oak barrels and 4 months in bottle, so you can cut that however you want, 4.5 years in oak and 6 months in bottle, or 2 years in oak and 4 years in bottle…it’s up to the producer and their style once they’ve exceeded the DOCG minimums. And it can only be called Brunello if it is made from the Sangiovese Grosso clone that is known as “the dark one” roughly translated to “Brunello”, and it must be grown within the zone around the town of Montalcino in southern Tuscany. This area has become extremely famous and expensive along the lines of Barolo in the north, or the Italian version of Burgundy or Bordeaux. Some of Italy’s very finest wines come from this region, and Il Poggione is in the handful of consistently top producers. Expect notes of dark cherries, licorice, earth, leather, and violets. And as it ages more earth, mushroom and leather will emerge with fresh violets turning to dried flowers. Absolutely epic wines.

Fattoria Del Cerro, one of Montepulciano’s gems.

FATTORIA DEL CERRO, VINO NOBILE DI MONTEPULCIANO 2017
$37 per bottle at Byward Wine Market, or $32.99 x6 from Lifford Wines.
If you love Brunello, but don’t necessarily love paying Brunello prices, you should really meet Brunello’s lesser known, but equally cool, and little more underground cousin from a neighbouring town just 30 mins away. The thing about any great wines like Amarone, Brunello, etc…is that I wouldn’t necessarily waste my money on a bargain barrel cheap version, it’s not going to be reflective of why the region is so awesome. You really do have to ante up and pay the $50-$80 a bottle of great Brunello or Amarone. You won’t really find one for $30-$40. BUT, there are some very legit, less expensive alternatives that some people like even better. For example, about a half hour drive east from the town of Montalcino (where Brunello is produced) is the town of Montelpulciano. This is not to be confused with the Montepulciano grape from the Abruzzo region of eastern Italy. This is the town of Montepulciano in Tuscany, and they produce wine from the exact same clone of the Sangiovese grape as they do in Montalcino for Brunello. It’s called Sangiovese Grosso, but in Montepulciano they called it Prugnolo Gentile. And overall they have very similar climate and soils, producing a pretty similar style of wine.

Long story short: Brunello started becoming a thing in the late 1800’s and since the 1960’s has steadily rose to prominence eclipsing Chianti as the most famous wine in Tuscany. But if you look back historically, the wines of Montepulciano were first mentioned in 789 among references by wine advisors to Pope Paul III as “very perfect” and “suited to the tastes of gentlemen”. Then 1000 years later in 1787 were given the title of being “Noble” and referred to as the king of wines. And that’s the name the appellation still holds today: Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Unfortunately the region saw waning quality in the post-war era and was losing prestige while Brunello was gaining. Since then Vino Nobile producers have pulled up their sox and even changed some production regulations in the 1980’s to increase overall quality. Today they make a wine that is produced in nearly the same way as it’s more expensive cousin down the road. Many Vino Nobiles have a more traditional profile of earth, tobacco, and mushroom coupled with the black cherry and licorice or balsamic notes, overall tasting very similar to Brunello but selling at half the price. They can also last for many years in the cellar. The Vino Nobile from Fattoria Del Cerro is a perfect example to try out from an acclaimed historic estate. They also own a top Brunello winery in Montalcino called La Poderina, so they’re experts in Vino Nobile and Brunello traditions. This is a must-try for any Sangiovese fan or Brunello lover.

Grab a few of these bottles, some snacks from La Bottega or Pan Chancho, and join us for more geeky info on all this and lots more about Sangiovese on Saturday night at 7pm!

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The Byward Wine Market is fully open for in person shopping, as well as online orders offering curbside pickup or local delivery within Ottawa. And just a reminder that the order deadline for Friday case deliveries is Wednesday at 9:00am. Reach out if you have any questions, and check out the archive of past FEATURES if you’re interested in other recommendations. Lastly, please feel free to forward this to anyone in Ontario who may be interested in home wine delivery and follow us on Instagram for daily wine content at @bywardwinemarket and @capitalwine.ottawa!