2021 2021 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!
Think bing cherry on a dusty day, we just love the red fruits and dry tannins on Sangiovese. On the finish you'll find notes of rosemary and thyme.
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 always one of the first picks of harvest.
We thought 2020 was an early harvest, well bring on 2021! Beating our record by two days, these grapes were picked on August 21, 2021.
At the winery, the cap was managed by pumpovers throughout the fermentation, with just a punchdown or two to break up the cap. After 12 days the wine was pressed to barrel and finished secondary fermentation by the end of October.
The wine was bottled in August of 2022 after 11 months elevage.