128. Sangiovese Grape Guide - WSET Notes on Italy's Most Planted Grape

Episode 128: Sangiovese Grape Guide - WSET Notes on Italy's Most Planted Grape

Host: Joanne Close Episode Length: 8:55 Release Date: September 8

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Level 2 Mock Exam Bundle

If you are studying for your WSET Level 2 exam, Sangiovese is exactly the kind of grape that shows up on the test, and the Level 2 Mock Exam Bundle is built to help you practice recognizing details like this before exam day. It includes practice questions modeled after the real exam format, along with answer explanations so you understand not just what the right answer is, but why.

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Related Episodes

If you want to go deeper into Tuscany, two earlier episodes pair well with this one. Episode 76 covers Chianti and Chianti Classico in detail, and Episode 77 covers the Super Tuscans. Both are available wherever you listen:

Apple Podcasts: Episode 76 - Chianti vs. Chianti Classico: History, Laws, and Key Differences: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/76-chianti-vs-chianti-classico-history-laws-and-key/id1781687341?i=1000727079473

Apple Podcasts: Episode 77 - Super Tuscans 101: Tuscany's Bordeaux Blends: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/77-super-tuscans-101-tuscanys-bordeaux-blends-and/id1781687341?i=1000727407164

Episode Description

Joanne dedicates this episode to Sangiovese, Italy's most widely planted wine grape. She starts with the WSET foundation basics: Sangiovese is a black grape most closely associated with Tuscany, producing dry red wines with high acidity, high tannin, and flavors of red cherry, red plum, and dried herbs. She explains why the grape's thin skins and late ripening make it particular about where it grows, and how it is often matured in oak to soften those tannins while developing savory notes like leather, meat, and game with bottle age.

From there, Joanne moves into what makes Sangiovese such a fascinating grape to study: its sheer diversity. She walks through how the same grape shows up under completely different names depending on where in Italy it's grown, using Brunello di Montalcino and Prugnolo Gentile in Montepulciano as examples. To explain how this happened, she breaks down the difference between crossings, hybrids, and clones, and why clonal selection over generations is the reason Sangiovese developed so many regional identities that were once mistaken for entirely separate grapes.

She closes with a look at where Sangiovese is heading, including the renewed focus in parts of Tuscany on showcasing indigenous Italian varieties, using Chianti Classico Gran Selezione as an example of that shift in style and philosophy.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Sangiovese Fundamentals

• Grape characteristics: high acidity, high tannin, red cherry and red plum fruit, dried herb notes
• Late ripening and thin skins, and what that means for growing conditions
• Aging potential and development of tertiary characteristics like leather, meat, and game

Sangiovese in Italy

• Represents roughly seven to eight percent of Italy's total vineyard area, according to the OIV
• Tuscan appellations where it plays a starring role, including Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti/Chianti Classico
• Other Italian regions where it is significant, including Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Marche, and Lazio

Understanding Grape Identity: Crossings, Hybrids, and Clones

• Crossings: two grapes of the same species combined to create a new variety, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
• Hybrids: grapes from two different vine species combined, such as Vitis vinifera crossed with Vitis labrusca
• Clones: vegetative propagation of the same grape variety, which can lead to spontaneous mutations and different attributes over generations

Sangiovese's Many Names

• Brunello in Montalcino
• Prugnolo Gentile in Montepulciano
• Morellino in Morellino
• How DNA fingerprinting confirmed these were all the same grape

Sangiovese Beyond Italy

• Plantings in Argentina, particularly Mendoza, as well as California and Australia
• Why its identity remains primarily Italian

The Future of Sangiovese

• Renewed interest in better plant material, site selection, and understanding of the grape
• Chianti Classico Gran Selezione as an example, requiring a minimum of 90% Sangiovese with the remaining 10% coming from permitted indigenous red varieties

Episode Highlights and Quotes

"It's still the grape, Sangiovese. They are different clones."

"Thanks to the magic of DNA fingerprinting, they have discovered that these are not different grapes, that they all are actua