2018 2018 Sangiovese
SANGIOVESE is widely-known at the base grape of Chianti wines from Tuscany. The grape, who’s name is derived from Latin sanguis Jovis, “the blood of Jupiter”, is the workhorse of Central Italy and may date back to Roman winemaking. A millennium later, it has become a varietal planted worldwide, including about 1500 acres in California. The Raft Wine interpretation is an approachable sipper of this classic varietal.
Technical
Tasting Notes
Sangiovese is such a great wine for sharing. It is approachable, yet with a tannin structure to stand up to many different foods - we think it’s the perfect pizza and pasta wine! On the nose, it inspires notes of redwood tips, vanilla, and spice. On the palate, there it is tart cherry, a dusty tannin structure, as you would find in cocoa nibs. Drink a bottle now, and save one for later, you won’t be disappointed!
Details
Butte County may not be known for wine grape plantings (only about 160 acres planted), but this vineyard is a welcome sight amongst the orchards of walnuts and paddies of rice. When first visited, it echoed the time spent in the Hunter Valley, Australia in climate – warm and humid. But when presented a barrel sample of this Sangiovese, we knew it would be a welcome addition to the Raft Wines lineup. Organically farmed on Conejo clay loam, it produces a lovely crop of Sangiovese that is one of first the picks of harvest.
Picked on August 26, 2018, it was the first red wine pick for Raft Wines. Cap management was very gentle to not be too hard on the tannic seeds and it spent 22 days fermenting natively. The free run and press were kept separately for 8 months then racked together and kept for another two months. All barrique aging was in neutral French oak barrels.
The wine was bottled August 14, 2019 unfined and unfiltered.