Think of the world’s most successful blended wines: Bordeaux’s variations on the Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot-Cabernet Franc formula probably top the list, but don’t forget the magic of a good “GSM” (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvèdre); old-school Rioja (Tempranillo & its supporting cast); or, of course, the marriage of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Champagne. I’ll add another intuitive, inspired combination to this list: Sangiovese and Montepulciano from Italy’s Marche region. These two iconic Italian reds are opposites in most ways, which is precisely why they make sense as blending partners.
Sangiovese, nervous and spicy, finds a gregarious friend in Montepulciano, whose juicy fruit and soft tannins are the perfect foil. This is what a proper Rosso Piceno is all about, and while the percentages vary from producer to producer, Vigneti Vallorani calibrated them perfectly in this elegant, mesmerizing 2016. The best blended wines are characterized by balance, not just of acidity/fruit/tannin but in the way the component parts contribute to the whole. It’s not about one grape dominating, so in the case of the 2016 “Polisia” it means that the smoky, mineral, underbrush notes of Sangiovese are complemented by the plummy fruit of the Montepulciano. The high-acid Sangiovese luxuriates in Montepulciano’s soft embrace. It works on every level, and it’s readily affordable to boot: a “sleeper” superstar if ever there was one.
Not that Rosso Piceno, or “Piceno Superiore” in this case, is some new arrival on the Italian wine scene—quite the contrary. The wine is so named for the spectacular town of Ascoli Piceno, which sits in the hills along the Marche region’s border with Abruzzo, about midway down Italy’s Adriatic Coast. Not only is this a viticultural ‘meet-up’ point for the Sangiovese and Montepulciano varieties, it’s a kind of an Italian Mason-Dixon line marking the transition from “north” to “south.” At one time, Ascoli Piceno was a key Roman outpost, not far from the ancient via salaria (“salt road”) that connected Rome to the Adriatic. The vineyards of the Piceno area are nestled between the Apennine Mountains (which form a natural border with Umbria to the west) and the Adriatic Sea, and are exposed to climate-moderating currents from both.
Vigneri Vallorani is a multi-generational family operation dating to the early 1900s, but the family sold their wines in bulk prior to 2010, when brothers Rocco and Stefano Vallorani began “estate-bottling.” The conversion to organic farming was begun by their father, Giancarlo, years earlier, so after studying viticulture and enology and apprenticing both in Italy and abroad, the brothers made a big splash right out of the gate. They’ve been hailed as rising stars in the Marche and have gone all-in on highlighting the glories of the Piceno area. Their labels feature the works of local artists and the wine “fantasy names” reference local traditions or personalities: “Polisia” is the name of a patron saint of Ascoli Piceno, who looks down on the city from Mount Ascenzione to the west.
All fantasy aside, however, this is a dead-serious bottle of wine sourced from the Vallorani family’s oldest vines, which range from 35 to 55 years of age. You may be surprised, given the wine’s voluptuous texture, that it is aged only in steel tanks, on its lees, for 16 months. It spent another year in bottle before its initial release, which helps explain just how seamless and elegant it is now—in fact, I vividly remember this wine kind of coming out of nowhere to walk away with “wine of the day” honors at a recent tasting. In the glass, it’s a deep garnet-ruby moving to pink at the rim, with aromas of black cherry, red and black plum, boysenberry, blood orange, violets, licorice, black pepper, and underbrush. It is medium-plus in body, voluptuous and silky on the palate, and ready to enjoy now and over the next 3-5 years. Decant it 30 minutes before serving in Bordeaux stems—it has a lot of Bordeaux-like qualities—at 60-65 degrees. The area of the Marche from which this wine hails is the ultimate meeting of mountains and sea, just like Abruzzo to its immediate south, and in this case, I’m leaning towards the mountains: Check out the attached recipe for vincisgrassi, the Marche’s woodsy riff on lasagna. Enjoy!