Chiara Condello has quickly established herself as one of the most exciting young talents in Italian wine, single-handedly drawing the world's attention to the hills of Romagna. Based in Predappio, a historic enclave nestled in the Apennine foothills, Chiara works with old vines and a deep commitment to organic farming. Her goal is to strip away the rustic reputation often associated with Romagnolo Sangiovese, trading raw power for clarity and high-toned elegance. The defining feature of her estate is the presence of "spungone" soils—a unique, ancient calcareous sandstone rich in marine fossils that imparts a highly distinct personality to her vineyards.

The 2020 Romagna Sangiovese Predappio showcases Chiara’s signature Burgundian-like approach to this classic Italian grape. The hand-harvested fruit undergoes spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts in open-top wooden vats and stainless steel tanks, using a gentle touch to avoid over-extracting the skins. The wine is then aged for a year in large, seasoned Slavonian oak casks to soften its framework without masking the varietal purity. The 2020 vintage captures a beautiful balance between a warm growing season and the cooling mountain drafts, resulting in a silken, deeply aromatic red that bridges the gap between old-world rusticity and polished modern finesse.

Why You’ll Love it

• This is an eye-opening alternative for fans of top-tier Chianti Classico or Rosso di Montalcino, proving that Romagna can produce Sangiovese of world-class elegance.

• The 2020 vintage hits a sweet spot, balancing a deep, concentrated fruit core with an intensely vibrant, lip-smacking acidity.

• The nose is wonderfully expressive, offering an alluring combination of dusty black cherries, wild strawberries, sweet rose petals, mint, and a hint of wood ash.

• On the palate, the texture is remarkably silken, featuring super-fine, tightly knit tannins and a savory undertone of tobacco and unsweetened cocoa.

• A striking flash of saline and chalky minerality runs through the finish, a direct byproduct of the prehistoric marine fossils buried in the vineyards.

How To Serve It

• Serve this wine at a cool cellar temperature between 60°F and 62°F to preserve its bright red fruit and keep the structural frame energetic.

• This bottle greatly benefits from a 45-minute to one-hour decant, which allows the initial reduction to dissipate and lets the tightly wound tannins unfurl.

• Pour it into a standard Bordeaux or large universal glassware to give the expansive, complex bouquet room to breathe and expand.

• It is a spectacular match for Italian comfort food, pairing effortlessly with wood-fired mushroom pizza, pasta bolognese, or roasted pork loin.