Castellare di Castellina I Sodi Di San Niccolo 2019

Cellar for up to 15 years. Decant for 2 hours. A beautiful ruby red in colour, the nose gives ripe cherries, red currant, hints of leather, tobacco and vanilla. The palate reveals ripe cherries, blackcurrants, sweet spices and a hint of tobacco. This full bodied wine has high acidity with medium to high levels of well integrated tannins. The finish is long and lingering and ends on a subtle note of vanilla. A fantastic match for steak, lamb, tomato sauces and cheese. The hand harvested grapes are vinified in steel vats for between 18 and 25 days prior to being aged in new oak for between 15 and 30 months. There is a further 12 months in bottle prior to release. No herbicides, pesticides or chemicals of any nature are used in Castellarre’s wines which makes them even more desirable. The wine has twice been in Wine Spectators Top 100 which is proof that Sangiovese vines can compete with the best the world has to offer. I Sodi di San Niccolò was developed in the 80s with an aim of creating wines that would compete with the “Super Tuscans” and show that native fruit can produce wine with the finesse and power to compete – they certainly managed that!. The name of the wine comes from the term “I Sodi” which means that the grapes are difficult to harvest (hence the need for hand harvesting), combined with the name of a church on the property, San Niccolo, which is no longer in use.

Price: £74.83 from 8wines UK