The Earthy & Savoury Case

Wines that make your stomach rumble, wines that call for a delicious plate of food, wines that offer more than just fruitiness, this case of six mixed red wines is for the experienced and the curious. Whether through wine-making practice, time in bottle or inherent qualities of the grape variety, all of the wines in this case have flavour profiles that offer spice, minerals, smoke, and earth. We’ve put Sangiovese in the spotlight here because, well, it deserves to shine. Italy’s red wine beacon and the perfect food-pairing red, explore some of its many faces as well as some cousins from abroad. Open the bottles up, let the wines breathe and delight in these Earthy and Savoury wines.

In Veneto, we find the family run Tenuta di Tavignano who produce a blend of Sangiovese and Montepulciano called Rosso Piceno. To Montepulciano’s round, soft personality, Sangiovese brings acidity and a herbal spice that’s dark and delicious. Further south in Tuscany we have Salcheto, eco-pioneers and fervent believers in the power of Sangiovese. In their organic Vino Nobile di Montepucliano, the Sangiovese baked cherry and red plum flavours are joined by liquorice and a light leathery finish. In Umbria, around Montefalco, the Adanti family blend their Sangiovese with Barbera and Sagrantino and age for three years before release. An introduction to the joys of aged Sangiovese, the Montefalco Rosso is earthy, smoky and intriguing with notes of stewing raspberries, cherry bakewell and wet leaves. The Tuscan coast is home to Sangiovese too, and in Maremma, where it goes by Morellino, Ghiaccio Forte produce a delicious Morellino di Scansano: ripe cherry and dark plum fruit alongside a stony, smoky finish with cracking acidity.

An earthy case wouldn’t be complete without a red from Bordeaux, and the Château Chereau offers lots of Merlot’s plum fruit character that’s augmented by forest floor and a mushroom-like edge, cracking value this one! And finally a Rioja, from avant-garde producer Creaciones Exeo. From some of the highest vineyard sites in Rioja Alavesa, the ‘letras minusculas’ Rioja is full of forest fruit notes with liquorice and charred wood, soft tannins and a lifted finish.