Today’s complex, multi-layered red proves without question that top reds from the Tuscan village of Montepulciano can more than hold their own with the better-known (and often far higher priced) wines of Montalcino and Chianti Classico. There isn’t much of this superb 2014 Vino Nobile to share with our customers today, but I assure you it overflows with real soil character, ample but smooth tannins, and a finish that lasts for what seems like forever.
It is a wine which, in addition to confirming the ‘nobility’ of the Sangiovese grape, presents a truly authentic look at the terroir of the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG—an appellation whose most famous producers have embraced a slicker, more ‘international’ style which, while not without appeal, differs sharply from the resolutely classic approach embraced by Dora Forsoni at Sanguineto. All the world’s great wine regions have their old-school stalwarts—Michel Lafarge in Burgundy, Bartolo Mascarello in Barolo, López de Heredia in Spain, to name a few—and I’m comfortable placing Forsoni in such company. She’s a great ambassador for a world-class red wine zone that sometimes gets lost in the Tuscan wine shuffle—if you’re an Italian wine lover, do not miss this one!
Poderi Sanguineto transports us to a small collection of hillsides at the base of the walled Tuscan village of Montepulciano. Legend has it that this area was once the site of some of the most brutally violent battles between the Etruscans and Romans. Supposedly, the land here was so inundated with the blood of fallen soldiers that it was given the name Sanguineto (“bloody”). Today, Sanguineto is a far less barbaric place, but today’s wine has no shortage of power and history.
Of Tuscany’s three best-known DOCG appellations—Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico, and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano—Montepulciano is arguably the most ancient. Keep in mind that while the reputation of Brunello di Montalcino begins somewhere in the 1500s and that of Chianti in the 1200s, the supremacy of Montepulciano reds is recognized in church documents dating back four to seven centuries earlier, in 789 A.D.!
Sanguineto farmer/winemaker Dora Forsoni is one of the wise sages of today’s Tuscan wine community, forever rebelling against modernization, bureaucracy and industrial farming practices. When Dora greets you at the gate of the Sanguineto I & II property with her calloused hands and mischievous smile (and often a rifle, locked and loaded for rabbit hunting), you can see in her eyes the decades of wisdom, struggle, and integrity she brings to her work. Her timeless, unadulterated, deeply satisfying wines are the direct result of one woman’s dogged commitment to purity and tradition. Still, Sanguineto I & II is not just about ideology. Objectively speaking, today’s wine (Dora’s top bottling) is one of the most regal and “serious” examples of the famed Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG. There is never much bottled—the entire West Coast of the U.S. receives a mere 40 cases per vintage—but this wine always delivers textbook Montepulciano terroir and impressive value.
Sanguineto is a proudly and strictly organic property. Dora’s pruning and plowing practices are similarly restrained—canopies grow freely and vines on the Sanguineto estate are noticeably greener and more alive than those of neighboring properties. Even the traditionally brick-colored clay/sand soil of Montepulciano appears darker and more fertile on this property. It’s a special place. Dora’s tendency to challenge the status quo extends to grape varieties as well. Most producers in the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG plant the same high-yielding clonal selection of Sangiovese. Sanguineto I & II takes a different view—the property is a mosaic of the ancient local varieties Mammolo, Canaiolo, and Nero Toscano in addition to the ancient local Sangiovese clone Prugnolo Gentile. This diversity creates greater complexity and local character, and guarantees that the wines of Sanguineto I & II are unlike any other wine in Tuscany.
The purity and depth of Sanguineto’s 2014 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is evident from the moment it leaves the bottle and splashes into your glass. It’s dark and concentrated crimson-auburn core quickly identifies this as a wine that has never been filtered or fined. The nose leads with black cherry, plum, red currants and moroccan orange cake before evolving into more savory and mysterious floral, tobacco, meat and leather territory. As is standard with Sanguineto’s finest wines, there’s a core of red clay terroir that perfectly frames the nose and palate. I feel a throughline between this bottle, my favorite Nebbiolo-based reds of northern Piedmont’s Bramaterra DOC, and the finest reds in Burgundy’s Mercurey AOC. Clay, when planted to the right variety and worked by a gifted steward, is a soil capable of producing reds of impressive meatiness and savor. Please decant this bottle for one hour before serving at 60 degrees in a large Bordeaux stem. Dora Forsoni, in addition to bottling outstanding wine, is a legendary hunter and it’s rare to visit this property without leaving with a stomach of braised rabbit. It’s no surprise, then, that today’s wine is a match made in Tuscan heaven for Coniglio al Vino Rosso (red wine-braised rabbit). And finally, I can’t stress enough that this is a beautiful—and value-priced, when compared to equivalent Brunellos and Chiantis—red that will improve for at least another 7-10 years. I’ve enjoyed Dora’s wines from the early 2000s and can attest to their seemingly limitless capacity to evolve and become more expressive with time. Cheers!
