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Wine Details
Price:
$32.00 per bottle
Description:
This is surely a pagan wine: "Sangiovese" translates as "Jove’s Blood," but I don’t believe that it refers to the blood coursing the god’s veins - metallic green, I’m told, rather, the color here is more appropriately that of a sacrificial offering poured upon the earth in the vernal chill of early Spring to ensure a good crop through proper fertility of the Goddess. Yet Jove & the Goddess are known for giving more than they take, & the proof lies in the aromatics of a grand harvest in your glass, pungent autumnal fields still warm from the sun, ripe juicy black cherries, & bright tartness to bring joy to the pleasures of roasted flesh. Can you smell the scent of a rumpled bed of crushed roses? Makes you want to cry out with a resounding "yes!" waiving a dinner bone over your head. Admit it. You are a pagan at heart, or you would not smile so knowingly while staring into a candle’s flame. Grapes: from the McGourty Vineyard just around the corner from Le Cuvier on Chimney Rock Road. Aged & Bottled: 137 cases of this wine were bottled after a brief 30 months or so in oak. The equivalent of an additional 295 cases remain aging in barrel, & will not be bottled until Spring of 2005, or perhaps beyond that. Ageability: Sangiovese is an Italian grape. Italians give a rude gesture when describing the extraordinary longevity of Sangiovese wines, a gesture one suspects inappropriate to American sensibilities.
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Varietal Definition
Sangiovese:
Sanguis Jovis, the Latin origin for the varietal name, literally means “blood of Jove.” Sangiovese is one of the oldest known varietals and it is likely that ancient Etruscan winemakers cultivated it, although the first literary reference to Sangiovese was in 1722. Sangiovese is probably indigenous to Tuscany, whose most famous wine is Chianti. Chianti is a blend that currently contains a minimum of 90% Sangiovese.Sangiovese thrives in hot dry climates. Because these climatic criteria generally enhance quantity, rather than quality, it takes careful cultivation and winemaking techniques to produce really excellent wine from this grape.
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