Sangiovese vs. Bordeaux Grapes Dominant: Supertuscan Wines Decoded
- finding your favorite supertuscan style.
Sangiovese larger vs. smaller wooden vessels at Sesti winery in Montalcino - credit: Eric Malcolm
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I recently found myself mentally in Florence again. I love the meaningful history certain places have. Perhaps that is why Florence is so special – You feel something when you are there – not sure how to describe it! (Except when you are there during high tourist season).
Well then you “feel something too” … FRUSTRATION!
When I walk about Florence, I sense I am among the spirits of the ones that came before us. When I find out that for wine, records refer to wine retailers dating back to 1079, I think “no wonder there is a little magic there!”
In 1282, a guild was formed for wine sellers called the Arte Dei Vinattieri, which translates to Vintners (wine-dealers) Guild. One of many such guilds in Florence.
In 1385, Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the Vintners Guild of Florence. He is an ancestor of the modern Antinori family that still makes and markets wine today – a very important player in the wine world.
Giovanni di Piero Antinori, the OG Antinori – kinda of cool!
Way cool!
This guild had strict rules to protect the profession's reputation. These gave me a chuckle:
· Cleanliness and exact measures
Appropriate and only fair.
· Shops not to be situated within 100 yards of a church
Don’t want the priests over-indulging, maybe?
· Not to serve children under 15
Reasonable. Clearly municipal zoning laws have been around for close to 1000 years!
· No cooked food could be sold
· Shops could not shelter “ruffians, thieves or prostitutes”
That population is generally bad for business.
And this was big business, with tax records stating approximately 8 million gallons of wine entered 14th century Florence yearly. International trade took place here with Flanders, Paris, and Marseilles being their key markets.
Back to the Antinori family - they were instrumental in setting up Sassicaia, the original Supertuscan wine, as well as the second Supertuscan Tignanello, which followed shortly after.
This set the stage for 2 types of Super Tuscans, today’s main topic.
Okay – I knew you would get to your wine point, eventually.
At Cork (the wine store I am affiliated with), we separate the 2 Supertuscan categories on the shelf to aid our customers to find their preferred style, as they are quite different.
One type is Bordeaux grape dominant, like Sassicaia, while the other is Sangiovese dominant, like Tignanello. The Supertuscan Bordeaux grapes are typically Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and sometimes Petit Verdot.
Sangiovese is the main grape of the Tuscan sub-regions of Chianti, Montalcino, and Montepulciano wines. (Not to be confused with the grape by the name of Montepulciano as in Montepulciano d’Abruzzo).
Sangiovese can be a tricky grape to grow, requiring a long growing season to ripen properly. This is one of the reasons Tuscan wines have blended Sangiovese with other grapes for centuries. Case in point, of these four sub-regions above, only Montalcino wine laws state that its wines must be made with 100% Sangiovese. This is because Sangiovese ripens well here.
In a well constructed blend, the different blending portions provide balance for the intended wine style. Sangiovese can sometimes be less approachable, particularly when young, due to its high acidity and potentially more rustic tannins.
The featured wine for example, is a Sangiovese dominant wine with 70% Sangiovese, 15% Merlot, and 15% Cab Sauv. The plushness of Merlot and the fine-grained tannins of the Cab Sauv can offer a more approachable wine.
Another key characteristic of Supertuscans is the use of smaller barrels for ageing instead of the traditional very large Italian neutral wood vessels. The smaller barrels provide more surface area between the wine and the barrel. As wood is porous to air, the wine gets micro-oxygenated while ageing. Micro-oxygenation refers to very small amounts of air interacting with the wine. As we know, oxygen helps wine soften, just like decanting, and as discussed last week in the post regarding ageing.
The featured wine is the Brancaia Tre Toscana 2021, which was aged in a smaller wood barrel called a French tonneaux. Tre means three in Italian, representing the 3 grapes in the wine and the 3 Tuscan vineyards the grapes were grown in: Maremma, Castellina, and Radda in Chianti. Sourcing grapes from different places is another form of blending to create a higher quality wine. This is a Brancaia’s entry-level wine.
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Brancaia Tre Toscana 2021 from Tuscany, Italy
Style: Moderately Full Body Red Wine
Varieties: 70% Sangiovese, 15% Merlot, & 15% Cabernet Sauvignon
This wine has ripe strawberry, red cherry, and black cherry fruit notes along with the complexity of cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, thyme, earth, forest floor, and wet leaves.
Best pairings: Lasagna, Spaghetti Bolognese, Grilled lamb or pork, Roasted vegetable dishes (root or eggplant), Hard cheeses like aged Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino.
Serving Temperature: 16-18 degrees Celsius
Serving Tips: Decant for 45 minutes minimum. I did not decant and initially this wine tasted disjointed. On day 2 it became much more dynamic, with complexity coming through.
Cost: ~$27 Cdn
I have compiled all my wine recommendations in one place. I will do my best to keep this up to date. I also include the link(s) to the article in which the wine was featured.
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SOURCES:
Denominations » Italian Wine central, https://italianwinecentral.com/denomination/.
Harding, J. and Robinson, J. (2023) The oxford companion to wine. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
MacNeil, K. (2022) The wine bible. New York, NY: Workman Publishing.
Wine & Spirit Education Trust (2021) D3: Wines of the World - An accompaniment to the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines. Version 1.2. London: Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
Wikipedia contributors (2024a) Guilds of Florence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilds_of_Florence.
Wines - BRANCAIA (2024). https://brancaia.com/en/products/wines/.
Amazing about the Antinori history and family!!!!