Grillesino Battiferro Morellino di Scansano Riserva DOCG 2016
Background
This region, surrounding the town of Scansano is where you go in Tuscany if you want to taste Sangiovese in all its ripest glory. Of course, they don’t call it Sangiovese here (that would be too simple!). Here the locals refer to that same grape as ‘Morellino’, named after the Morello cherry, even though it’s got the exact same genetics as the Sangiovese up in Chianti.
Scansano is in Maremma, in the southwest of Tuscany close to the coast. These grapes have a much different growing season than their cousins in Chianti. Chianti, in almost the middle of the Italian peninsula, experiences a ‘continental climate’. The winters are cooler and the weather is generally damper year-round. But in Maremma, the elevation is lower and these Morellino grapes experience a ‘Mediterranean climate’ (lower elevation and more moderate temperatures). These two regions are about 50km apart, but the differences in the wines can be drastic. Grillesino Battifero is owned and operated by the Notari family, a larger producer from Florence. They’ve been running this label here in the south of Tuscany for over 20 years. It’s a larger estate, holding about 50 acres of Morellino, Cab Sauv and Ciliegiolo (a rare distant relative of Sangiovese).
This wine is labelled as ‘Riserva’. Whenever you see that on a bottle it means that by law the wine has been aged longer than the minimum requirement. This DOCG calls for 2 full years of aging if it’s going to be labelled as Riserva, but the rules and regulations change region to region. The takeaway is: if you prefer a little wood aging, keep your eyes peeled for Riserva on the labels.
Tasting Notes
Chianti can be austere and sometimes unapproachable in youth, but here in Scansano, the grapes get a lot more sun. Instead of tart red raspberry/pomegranate flavours, Morellino shows a lot like the dark cherries it’s named after. And while Chianti wine law allows for blending with white grapes, down here in Maremma, producers are allowed to add big bold Bordeaux grapes like Cab Sauv and Merlot, both of which amplify the rich dark character that they are trying to extract from the Sangiovese.
Food Pairing
White Sauce - It’s no coincidence that the locals in Scansano named their grapes after cherries. The wines from this smaller region consistently taste like cherry juice, or in hotter years, cherry liqueur. It’s even a bit of a wine insider joke, how cherry-like these wines can be. We think those bold juicy fruit flavours would be great with creamy rich Alfredo-like sauces, or with young creamy cheese like fresh ricotta or mozzarella.
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