Chiara Condello Sangiovese di Predappio 2022

100% Sangiovese from three vineyards parcels between 150m and 350m above sea level, with a north/northeast exposure. One is clay-limestone, one is red clay with high spungone content, and the last is clay-limestone with veins of spungone. Vines are approximately 40 years old. The grapes were destemmed but not crushed, leaving whole berries intact. Fermentation was spontaneous in small stainless steel tanks (with temperture control), and open-top tronconic wood vats and tonneaux. Macerations lasted 15-25 days. Aging was for one year in used 3500L Slavonian oak botti.

Romagna is no stranger to Sangiovese; many ampelographers believe it originates here and not in Tuscany. Predappio is one of twelve villages that give their names to Sangiovese subzones authorized as of the 2011 vintage. It is located in the foothills of the Apennines, and is characterized by a sedimentary soil called spungone, which is relatively young (three million years old, from the Pliocene epoch). It contains abundant, intact shells of marine life, often quite large, and is chunky and porous, held together by a calcareous sandstone “cement.”