Italian RED Wine_ Super Tuscan, Sangiovese-based Wines

Are you reading? Yeah. Yeah, it's great. Is it going? Yeah. Can you cut it? No. Okay. One, two, three. Hello, hello, hello! Hello, hello, hello! Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I'm your host, Matthew Horky. So, welcome back to the show. This is a really, really special show because I'm going to talk about an area of the world which I don't think my palate will ever get tired of. You know, when I was getting into wine, I was drinking, when I was in America, I was drinking in graduate school a lot of crappy supermarket wines, wines that weren't very exciting. And then I took a backpacking trip to Europe while I was in graduate school. And I remember we were in Lucca, in Tuscany, the walled city in Tuscany. And we just got a basic house wine, Sangiovese-based wine there. And I remember smelling it and smelling it for like 10 minutes. My friends thought I was a weirdo. That's when I really fell in love with wine. Whenever I want to drink something familiar, I always go back to Sangiovese-based wines out of Tuscany. It's just as my palate has changed, evolved throughout the years. I don't think it's, this is one flavor that I just don't get sick of. And then Shereen and I, our first date was a Chianti. We drank a Chianti Classico, right? I chose it. You chose it. Anything else you want to say about Tuscany? Not much. We were just there about a year and a half ago, so it was awesome. We ate steak that was like the size of my head. Anyway, we're talking about iconic super Tuscan wines. Now I'm talking about super Tuscan wines that have Sangiovese in it. Now, there's been so much written about super Tuscans. I'm not going to go on and on about that. It's not an official term. When Chianti was trying to reinvent itself, there were some producers making wines as table wines because they couldn't conform to the Chianti laws. And they wanted to make wines that had 100% Sangiovese. Because at the time, Chianti had two white grapes blended into it. Malvesia, Tuscana, and Trebbiano were blended into it. That was the law. And then you had some people that wanted to grow Bordeaux grapes in Tuscany. So that's not allowed under the laws. So they started labeling them basically as table wines. And they became known as super Tuscans because they sold for high amounts of money. I think Sasakaya was among the first and probably one of the most famous coming out of the area. But these are all no joke as well. So let's talk about this. Two that we've tasted already. One that we're saving. And you'll have to read our tasting article on this to get the full notes on it. The first, we have this iconic producer. This is a Flaccianello. Flaccianello. De Delepiede. From 2009. 100% Sangiovese. Big Boy Wine. Shereen, what do you want to say about this? I want to drink it again. This was still way too young. A lot of time in it. But hey, we're always on the road. We don't have a mobile cellar. We have to drink the wines if we get them. Just nice. I mean, everything that I like about Sangiovese. You had Sour Chair. But this had like a tart plum component. Had some tobacco, mineral, earth notes. The tannins were fine grain. This was nice. I could drink that all by itself. You know, without feeling it. Because it just has so much sensory pleasure and texture. You can chew on it. Yeah. This is not a super Tuscan wine. But it's made by the same producer. This is their Chianti Classico Gran Selezione. From 2011. I just wanted to show this. Because surely not our first date. She chose a Fantoni Chianti Classico Regular. This was awesome. I think you liked the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione better than the Flaccianello. Is that right? I have to say, I mean, I like both. It really depends on the occasion. I like them just the same. This was a little more dense, right? It was a little more dense. Moving on. We have a wine that is also an iconic super Tuscan wine. Predominantly Sangiovese. A little bit of Cabernet Franc. As well. I think a little bit of Cabernet Sauvignon as well. This is the Antinori Tignanello. From 2011. We've drank several vintages of this. I really think in the world of fine, fine, fine wines. I'm talking about people that are balling. Spending several hundred dollars per bottle on wines. Collecting wines. I still think this is very overlooked. It's not cheap. Looking at 70, 80 bucks. Awesome. Shireen, what do you think about this? For me, this is everything that Sangiovese really is. It's not as dense as the Faccionello. It's a little bit brighter. Easier to drink. Excuse me. A lot of sour cherry. Funny fact about this. These definitely need some age. 11 was okay, but it could age longer. We had an 09 last year, which was perfect. When I first started drinking these kinds of wines. I kept calling it Tignanello. Because I couldn't. And then my friend that speaks Italian says, It's Tignanello. Who's that? Matt. Next is Antinori's other famous wine. Which we have not drank yet. And we got this at a steal of a price. So that's why we picked it up. Like a steal of a price. This is the Antinori Salaya. From 2010. I'm tempted to open it right away. Because some people say 2010 is the greatest Salaya ever made. 2010 was a great vintage in Tuscany. This is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon. Has a little bit of Sangiovese. A little bit of Cabernet Franc. So it's the same grapes. But this is predominantly Sangiovese. This is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon. I have never had a Salaya before. When we do have it, it will be my first time. Shereen, what do you think about it? Have you had it? I can't remember if you've had one or not. No, I haven't had it. So you'll have to just look at our Tasting Note article to check it out. I just wanted to share that with you. Sangiovese, central Tuscany. A region and a grape that I will always hold very close to my heart. Like I said, there are flavors that I don't think I will ever get sick of. They're just nice food wines. They're just nice wines. They go great with food. No matter how complex or whatever they are. Even simple Sangioveses just go great with food. And I enjoy drinking simple, even kind of watery, what people think Sangiovese. From Amelia Romagna, from Lamarque. Anything else you want to... No? Okay. Guys, if you like this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, Exotic Wine Travel. I will see you in the next episode.