Varietal
The Sangiovese grape is an ancient varietal indigenous to the Tuscany region of Italy. It is Italy’s most planted grape variety and the base for Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and most of the Super Tuscans. With the advent of Super Tuscan popularity in California in the late 80’s and early 90’s plantings of Sangiovese have increased substantially. Sangiovese is known for its strong tannins and good structure.

Vintage
For the most part 1999 was a cool and dry season, with much less warm weather than normal. Extra effort was taken in the vineyard to ensure that the fruit fully ripened including; judicious irrigation to control growth and maintain uniformity and cluster thinning to promote ripening. Late September gave us the heat spell we needed to begin harvest, which went very quickly and was effectively over by October 23rd. Our efforts in the vineyard paid off and we were rewarded by fully matured fruit flavors in our 99 reds.

Vinification
The lots for this wine were fermented individually in small open top stainless steel fermenters for 10days. The high skin to juice ratio allowed us to extract maximum flavor from the grapes, while managing good tannin levels. The wine was aged for 15 months in new and older American oak barrels. The wine was bottled May 2, 2001. Alcohol: 14.1%, total acidity .60, pH 3.63, residual sugar .06.

Tasting Notes
This wine shows layers of ripe cherry as well as notes of delicate spice, dried herb and leather. A wonderful food wine, this Sangiovese reveals superb structure, rich mouthfeel and well-integrated tannins on the finish.

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