Danzante Sangiovese – 1998

Date: 23DEC07

Name: Danzante Sangiovese

Label:

Winery: Marchesi de Frescobaldi (see below)

 Region: Marches. Interesting website here: http://www.wine-searcher.com/regions/marches+%5Bmarche%5D/1

Website: http://www.danzantewines.com/index.html

Varietal: Sangiovese

Vintage: 1998

Price: not known

Preface: none

Appearance: Unique among the wines I’ve tried so far, this Sangiovese had a very brown, summer tea-colored appearance. Medium-bodied and clear.

Nose: Following the brownish color, I caught an earthy, peaty nose, with faint hints of some undefined floral. I don’t believe this indicated a corked bottle, but the same nose that I first encountered with the Il Bastardo wine made an encore here, though to a much lesser degree. As both were Sangiovese varietals, maybe this is part and parcel of that particular grape; my reading doesn’t mention this particular odor as a common component of the Sangiovese, so there’s a small chance that this wine was very slightly corked.

Taste: Very smooth, mild, yet well-composed tannins on the mid-palate, but had a very short finish with not much complexity.

Tellings: This wine was quaffed at my parents’ house while the family gathered for an early Christamas celebration before we headed to Dallas to visit my inlaws. My father has maybe 10-20 wines of generally older vintages arranged among two wine racks in his dining room. He allowed me to root through and pick a proper bottle for the occasion. Not being anything close to a foodie, and not yet able to match wine with food, I just picked a bottle with a varietal I’ve had some luck with and the cork came out.

For dinner my mother made chicken cordon bleu, mixed vegetables with cheese, a cheese-based rice dish and some nice bread with both chocolate chip and fruit cookies for dessert. Delicious, filling and a nice send off for the trip to Dallas which we would begin the next morning.

There’s an interesting story behind the Marchesi de Frescobaldi winery and family at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frescobaldi.