Saladini Pilastri Rosso Piceno Superiore Vigna Montetinello 2008 750ml

Winery: Saladini Pilastri

Varietal: Sangiovese

The name of this grape, meaning 'blood of Jove' conjures up evocative images of long dead civilizations, and gives the Sangiovese varietal a sense of the holy, the sacred, the special. Indeed, this particular type of Italian grape has been cultivated and processed for thousands of years, and is said to be the original favorite grape varietal of the Romans, and the Etruscans before them. Throughout history, vintners have continued to plant this varietal, and they continue to produce wonderful wines to this day. The long bunches of very dark, round fruit are treasured by fine wineries in Italy and a few other places around the world, and when young, these grapes are lively – full of strawberry flavors and a little spiciness. However, it is when they are aged in oak that they take on some truly special flavors and aromas, as seen in some of the finest wines of the Old World.

Region: Marche

On the eastern side of central Italy, close to the Adriatic coast, we find the stunning wine region of Marche, a region associated with wines of character and distinction, and renowned for being one of the oldest and most influential wine regions in the country. Indeed, Marche has been an important home of quality wine production for almost three thousand years, and has been used for vineyard cultivation by everyone from the Romans to the Pheonicians, the Greeks and the Lombards. As such, this is a region with a strong and proud traditional identity and heritage, and over its sixty thousand acres, we find many of Italy's finest red and white wines. Marche is primarily considered a white wine region, most closely associated with Trebbiano and Verdicchio grapes. However, the red wine industry in Marche is strong, and features many of Italy's most interesting and characterful red wines, made with beautiful native grape varietals.

Country: Italy

For several decades in the mid to late twentieth century, Italy's reputation for quality wines took a fairly serious blow. This was brought about partly due to lack of regulation in certain regions, and too much regulation in others. This led to several wineries in the beautiful and highly fertile region of Tuscany making the bold move to work outside of the law, which they saw as responsible for the drop in quality in Tuscan wines. They believed that they had the expertise and the generations of experience necessary with which to make truly excellent, world class wines, and set about doing just that. These 'Super Tuscans', as they came to be known, quickly inspired the rest of Italy to improve their produce, and now, Italian wine producers in the twenty-first century are widely recognised to be amongst the best in the world. Regulation and law began to change, and wine drinkers across the globe woke up to the outstanding wines coming out of Italy, which are continuing to improve and impress to this day.