With an earlier vintage in 2024, barreling down was finished a little earlier than in other years so we've taken the opportunity to spend more time on the road visiting customers in Melbourne and Sydney.
So when the opportunity arose to participate in a few of Young Gun of Wine's Italian varietal tastings, I obviously couldn't say no! Tasting 55 Australian iterations of Sangiovese should never be passed up, so too to hear the thoughts of the sommeliers, buyers & fellow winemakers who made up the panel. These are important tastings to see where Australia is at, with a diversity of regions, vintages, vineyard ages and clones offering a unique insight into a variety that must surely be considered an Italian mainstream now.
Take a look here to read the full Deep Dive, but here is the extract on the 2019 Vinea Marson Sangiovese (all wines are tasted blind and so I was obviously excluded from including our submission):
This was Imrie’s second-top wine of the tasting, and Wyse also included it in his top six wines. “Beautiful bricking colour indicating some age,” noted Imrie, “A lot of aromatic intensity with aromas notable before your nose reaches the glass. Super inviting perfume of dried red cherry, red currant, dried strawberry, Christmassy orange peel, pinecone, and vanilla – deep set aromas. A nice creaminess to the palate, and in that setting, I really liked the tannins – noticeable, firm – adding a juxtaposition of textures. Black tea, leather, dried fruits on the finish.” Wyse: “Black olive and cherry compete to headline the bouquet, there’s also licks of rose petal and rhubarb, alpine herbs and flowers waft in as well. Palate is very musical, suggestive, almost sensual or erotic. Cherry blossoms, camphor, sandalwood, Spanish moss, a parade of barks and wood essences.”