Style Heavy red Old World Country Italy Price $10
Vintage tasted 2008 Grapes Sangiovese
Website www.umanironchi.com

Overview Sangiovese is the grape behind the great wines of Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, as well as this wine— and judging by the exclamation point on this bottle, the folks at Umani Ronchi are awfully excited about it. We can see why: it has the classic mix of earth and fruit flavors that makes many Italian wines so appealing. If you hate the smell of farms or forests, you should probably stay away.

Nose There’s lots of ripe fruit here, along with earthy aromas that made one blind taster think of forest floor.

Mouth It starts off full and fruity, but quickly adds flavors of earth, undergrowth, and what one taster identified as an animal byproduct we’ll euphemistically call barnyard. But trust us, it’s great.