Sangiovese is the most widely planted
grape in Italy where it accounts for ten percent of Italy’s vineyards. Sangiovese is the principle red grape of
Tuscany and is responsible for much of the wine called Chianti. Here in California, Sangiovese has found a
second home in the Sierra Foothills.
Shenandoah Valley’s iron laden decomposed granitic soils along with warm
days and cool alpine influenced nights allows Sangiovese to develop exceptional
color and full flavors. Like Barbera,
Sangiovese is known as a high acid variety, but unlike Barbera, Sangiovese
often has enough tannin to provide the wine with a structure that will benefit
from aging. Our objective is to produce
a wine with as much depth and flavor as possible yet keep the wine smooth and
elegant. To achieve this, we ferment on
the skins for just six days. During this
time the skins are mixed with the fermenting juice by hand three times a
day. This labor-intensive process
enables us to extract the color and flavor from the skins while minimizing the
incorporation of any harsh or astringent tannin from the seeds. Fermentation is followed by ten months of
aging in small barrels. The wine is
bottled sixteen months after the vintage and bottle aged for just a month prior
to release.
