2017 Poggio di Sotto Rosso di Montalcino

Here’s a wine to try before you die.

You’ve probably heard it before: “This is their less-expensive wine, but it is as good as the top wine at many other wineries.” Oh word. Can’t wait to spend eighty bucks on some winery’s editing room floor.

And, every so often, if you’re really fortunate, it will actually be true. And here is just such an example.

I am an evangelist for Sangiovese. It’s always considered a second tier grape but fuck that because it’s just not true.

Poggio di Sotto’s Rosso di Montalcino is one of the greatest Sangioveses produced. Even better, it’s more delicious and interesting and easy to appreciate than its more expensive Brunello brethren. Even better than that, it’s a truly traditional example of Tuscan winemaking, utilizing large Slavonian oak which lets Sangiovese’s wide range of delicious accents show off without too much international oakage. It tastes like an AUTHENTIC product of place. People try to duplicate this taste elsewhere and fail every time. That counts for a lot. That's one of the best things about wine actually.

The flavors are so warm and beautifully melded. Foggy, wispy mediterranean herbs with campsmoke and rose-tinged strawberries. There’s a soft, leathery character, with cured pork fat and light roast coffee. The flavors all course together in this gorgeous autumnal sensory whirlpool. Goddamn is it delicious. It makes me wanna stuff my face with porchetta.

Poggio di Sotto is located in the southern part of Montalcino, in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, and typically the Sangioveses here tend to be a bit riper than the northerly sited Montevertine and Monteraponi, but the wines have a similar feel of elegance, with maybe a bit of Cotes-du-Nuits richer mouthfeel in addition. Their vineyards cover a range of altitudes so they can select grapes based on altitude when challenged with outlier vintages, like the warm 2017. They work with 100% Sangiovese, with no other varieties planted.

I would say that for the money, I prefer to this every Brunello available in this price range.

Imported in the USA by Winebow.

US Pricing at time of posting: $75-$100

UK Pricing at time of posting: £ 64

EU Pricing at time of posting: € 36-60

AUS Pricing at time of posting: AU$ 160-200