Rosso del Gello Montecucco Sangiovese 2006

So I'd never heard of the Montecucco Sangiovese DOC before today. It's half the size of Chianti and several times larger than Montalcino, though this may only be a matter of geography. Googling it bears little fruit, though the impression I get is that up until recently it was for parochial consumption only, and didn't travel very far. The idea of a youthful DOC appeals to me. It's kind of a blank slate.

I think this wine is organic.

Rusty colour - touch misty.

Cherries and pebbles on the nose. Maybe some pecans? I could have sworn I got pecans. Some manner of sweet nuttiness, anyway.

The palate is a touch shabby. There's a bit of country bumpkin to it, complete with a netted baseball cap advertising fertiliser and a mullet. Slightly soupy cherries with earthy tannins. And walnuts - those pecans have turned to walnuts. There's fruit, there's tannin, but there doesn't seem to be any acidity to polish it all up. So maybe there's some stubble with that mullet.

The thing is, I like it. It's peasant wine. I think it's sadly slightly overpriced peasant wine, but fun nonetheless. This is the sort of wine that, if I was travelling through Tuscany and stopped at a local restaurant and they brought this out, I would be happy to drink it by the gallon. Over here I can do better for the money, from Italy; from more famous DOCs. This is just too expensive (£15.49) to justify it. Maybe £7.49?

Still, I'm curious to see what happens here. I'll be keeping on eye (nose? tongue?) on the wines from here regardless, to see how they develop over the years. I wonder if that nuttiness is indicative of the region?

**

Tasted 19/10/2010 at Luvians Bottleshop