Sangiovese Wine: Italy’s Popular and Controversial Chameleon

When I was in Tuscany, I frequently drank whatever house wine the restaurant would serve, which, more than likely, was made from Sangiovese grapes. Since then, this bold wine is one of my favorites to serve with dinner–especially Italian cuisine.
Sangiovese wine, known as the chameleon of Central Italy, is an Italian grape variety named for “the blood of Jupiter, or Sanguis Jovis. This Tuscan favorite is not a new, or obscure red wine. In fact, the Italians have made this wine variety hugely popular in Italy and around the world. And, it and its many “clones” have been with us for centuries–even millennia.

(Skip to the next section for my Sangiovese wine recommendations)

Surprisingly, Sangiovese wine is also filled with controversy, especially in the Tuscan regions where it is the most productive grape. The arguments center not only on the names for this wine, and the regions for which it is known, but also for its ability to be blended with other wines, to achieve a less acidic wine with lower tannins.

The clones of Sangiovese are reds like Chianti Classico. The Sangiovese grape is a deep purple color, denoting the earthy, savory notes. The purple grapes, like other vitis vinfera, are European grapes, considered to be common in the Mediterranean region. Sangiovese is the most common grape planted in Italy.

Don’t confuse it being common as meaning ordinary, in fact, it tastes a lot like Pinot Noir in flavor with a dry, semi-sweet finish.

This red wine is treasured as one of Tuscany’s best wines. It has bright notes and is enjoyed for its aging qualities. It is most commonly aged in oak, sometimes even French oak, and maintains a neutral characteristic.

Sangiovese grapes are essential to Italy’s winemaking for a variety of wines. According to Monica Larner, in her article, Sangiovese: The Grape at the Heart of Italy, it is known as a “beast” in bad growing years, and is elevated to sainthood in its good years.

In any case, Italy greatly depends on its Sangiovese harvest to provide the wine’s solo abundance, where in its pure state, it is used wherever reds are coveted. But its plentiful supply is also needed because many vintners tend to use this edgy, more acidic grape with others which can “soften” the character of the Sangiovese.

The treasured rustic, earthy wine has become quite controversial. So much so, that in some regions, blending Sangiovese has been forbidden, even illegal.

The Sangiovese based wines have created quite a stir in Italy, and blends are either embraced or shunned. When government gets involved in winemaking, vintners must adjust their creative solutions.

Wine growing and winemaking laws in Italy reached peak levels of reaction from the hundreds of thousands of growers. The government controlled and protected wine production, and conducted official “tastings” to assure that the advertised growing regions were authentic.

Initially the DOCG laws involved major growing regions of the five noble grapes. Much of this controversy is not about the actual growing or winemaking, according to Brian Menges, a sommelier, who has deciphered much of this newsworthy argument in his informative and fun-to-read article: Italian Wine Laws, DOCG, Anarchy and the IGT. Italian Wine Laws: DOCG, Anarchy and the IGT | Second Street Bistro

Menges describes the rebellion over labeling wines, where “names, roses, ribbons, and angels” may appear on a wine bottle’s label and have absolutely nothing to do with what is actually in the bottle. Interesting how this noble, but common purple grape could have created such furor over the past decades.

Thank you Society of Wine Educators

Almost all Sangiovese vineyards are found in Italy, in the central, Tuscan region. Whether they be the bolder Sangiovese Grosso, a larger grape variety, which ripens slowly, or the smaller Sangiovese Piccolo. And, there are some growers in the United States, Argentina, Greece and Romania. The US wines are mostly in Washington state and California.

Along with enjoying the Italian Sangioveses, we can’t wait to begin tasting the California versions. We also would like to see what the vintners of Argentina and Greece may have to offer.

The Sangiovese wine varieties are easily found at your favorite liquor or package store. And, if you find that it hasn’t yet made it to your vendor, we would encourage you to educate them, and to ask them to order it. Our opinion is, if it’s the favorite of the Tuscans (and I can say it is from first hand experience), how can we go wrong if we insist it become available to us.

While Sangiovese is not considered to be a fruit forward wine, meaning a highly fruity wine, the fruit notes, are often that of cherries or even tomatoes. Some experts claim the fruitiness can be enhanced by using less sugar in your dishes, which they say enhances the fruity notes.

It is also interesting how ingenious the Italians are in using fats like butter and olive oils with much more generous amounts than we, in America, are accustomed to. Have you wondered about that last drizzle of olive oil your italian chefs consistently demonstrate, when finishing up their pasta dishes, or even their soups and casseroles. Perhaps this custom originated in Tuscany.

There are often reasons for having Sangiovese with fats that we were unaware of. We discovered that by using generous amounts of butter or olive oil in our recipes, this allows their fatty richness to cut the wine’s tannins, and thus the strong acidity which may put off some red wine drinkers.

Many wine experts will tell us that wine is meant to be enjoyed with food. The nature of Sangiovese bears this out quite well, and we prefer it as a table wine, rather than a solo performance.

This “blood of Jove” has high acidity, and the Sangiovese grapes are grown in Central Italy, and Tuscany. The grape variety can be considered pure as Brunello di Montalcino, and is the deeper flavored grape that is slower to mature than the Piccolos. Butl, the acidic quality of Sangiovese met with some creativity that helped to put it in the spotlight of the controversy. This resulted from the tendency of some vintners to find this pure wine too acidic and not soft enough, and to look for a way to lighten it with other grapes.

These brilliant, bolder wines use sangiovese grapes for full-bodied reds wines like, Rosso di Montalcino (a dryer, fruitier red) prugnolo gentile (sangiovese grosso), and vino nobile di montepulciano (sangiovese that is grown in the Montepulciano region, also in Tuscany). Morellino di Scansano, of Coastal Tuscany, and Cabernet sauvignon, another similar red, which is fuller and darker than the pure Sangiovese wine, which is less fruity and not as silky and rich as the others.

All of these are called “super Tuscan” wines because they form the foundational grapes in this area of Italy.

As to pairing Sangiovese with our favorite foods, there is little controversy about its versatility.
This deep red wine is known as the “chameleon” wine because it so easily pairs with a wide variety of foods, including pastas, meats, beans, tomato dishes, and vegetables. Italians add this wine to their tomato sauces, whether it be for meatballs, marinaras for pastas, or chicken cacciatore, as well as for drinking with these dishes. We are reminded of the saying: don’t cook with a wine you wouldn’t drink. There is a reason for these popular sayings, and Sangiovese could be the reason this adage was created. It is perfect for sauces, creamy white ones or vibrant red ones. And, you can even use it for fish stocks to make your favorite clam dish or other rich, fatty seafood choices.

In other words, Sangiovese belongs with food, whether you are cooking or eating. It became popular because it’s an everyday wine and because it does well with appetizers, soups, main dishes, cheese courses, and even dark chocolate.

But, like other reds like Tempranillos, the Sangiovese is so easy to pair with our favorite foods. You don’t have to be a gourmet or a foodie to enjoy this wine at home or at your favorite restaurant.

Try it with prosciuttos, bean soups and casseroles, pork, bolognese, and even bold, aged cheeses like cheddars. Because it is enhanced with fats, it’s excellent with olive and tapenade mixes.

Rather than avoiding the brilliance and strength of Sangiovese, let’s do what the Italians do, and learn how to make wine a part of the meal, and not necessarily the focus. There are other wines you can drink at the bar for Happy Hour. This wine is probably not that wine. But, it has its place, just the same as any bold red, and we intend to take that to the party.

We like to discover, not only new wines, but new pairings. Though we have grown accustomed to our regular favorites, like cabernets and ciantis, we love learning about brilliant wines like Sangiovese, and how ubiquitous these wines are in Italy. It gets us wondering how we took so long to recognize what the Mediterraneans have enjoyed for centuries, and even millenia.