This is a wine I’ve been waiting on for a while. I first tasted this wine as a recently bottled sample in 2018 at the Arizona Vigneron’s Alliance Symposium, and I fell in love instantly with gripping, leathery tannins intermingled with dark fruit and spice. Tasting the 2015 Estate Sagrantino that day… it was kind of like being in love with an intimidating Goth woman who loved me back, and the fact is, I’ve been waiting for this wine to release ever since. The rest of the table where I was sitting found it too tannic, and so I ended up drunk off of this wine at 10:30 in the morning because they all passed their pours to me, and I was happy. Sagrantino, I discovered, was like the woman I’ve always dreamed about marrying, except, in this case, she actually existed and I was enjoying her company.
Fast forward a few years later, and the 2015 Estate Sagrantino is finally being released to the tasting room. Naturally, I had to get a bottle. How has she aged? Does she live up to my memories? Let’s find out.
I suspect that the 2015 Estate Sagrantino from Sand-Reckoner will cast a long shadow…
The Grape: First, an introduction is in order, as we’ve never reviewed a Sagrantino on the Arizona Wine Monk Blog before. Sagrantino is the premier red grape of Umbria, in North-Central Italy, and its most famous expression is as Sagrantino de Montefalco. Known for rich tannins, and dark, brooding color, Sagrantino has among the highest concentrations of anthocyanins and phenolic compounds of any Vitis vinifera grape varietal in the world. Here in Arizona, Sagrantino is being grown in three vineyards that I am aware of: Sand-Reckoner’s estate vineyard in Willcox, Greg Gonnerman’s Chiricahua Ranch Vineyards, and an additional vineyard in Sonoita.
The Wine: The 2015 Estate Sagrantino is made from 100% Sagrantino, sourced from Rob Hammelman’s estate Sand-Reckoner vineyard in Willcox, Arizona. This was his first harvest of these grapes. This Sagrantino had a typical warm temperature fermentation, and was left on the skins for 50 days. It was then basket pressed, and aged in a netural French oak barrel for 24 months. After barrel aging, the wine was then aged in bottle for an additional 24 months. The wine itself is the rich, deep ruby color one expects from Sagrantino coming from Umbria.
The Nose: On the nose, the 2015 Estate Sagrantino opens with aromas of cinnamon, cherry, plum, creosote, and anise, intermingling with blackberry, sandalwood, leather, frankincense, bilberry, iris, and lilac. After the wine opens, these floral notes intensify, and additional notes of creosote, cedar, and rosehips emerge into the glass.
The Palate: The 2015 Estate Sagrantino is a full-bodied red wine with high tannins and high acidity. While the tannins have greatly diminished from the near dominatrix-intensity of when I last tasted this vintage back in 2018, they are still firm and resiliant, providing a rigid spine around which notes of bilberry, clove, anise, pomegranate, and black tea intermingle with plum sauce, sandalwood, maduro tobacco, graphite and cinnamon. The finish of this wine lasts for a full minute and 10 seconds, and is filled with notes of black tea intermingling with sandalwood, creosote, eucalyptus, and subtle cherry; lingering, leathery tannins last longest. After decanting, additional notes of cedar, lilac, and rosehips emerge on the palate.
The Pairing: This wine demands something big; a porterhouse or ribeye steak with lots of fat will be the best pairing for this vintage, though a medley of slow-roasted wild mushrooms (or Portobello Mushrooms) will work well as a vegan or vegetarian pairing. If you are of the sort who prefers to smoke while sipping your sagrantino, pair the 2015 Estate Sagrantino with any of the Neandertal series from RomaCraft tobacco.
Impressions: The 2015 Estate Sagrantino is well worth the journey to the Sand-Reckoner tasting room in Tuscon to acquire a bottle. As the first estate Sagrantino availible to purchase in Arizona, it will be hard to top for a long time. Deeply reminicent of classic Sagrantino de Montefalco from Umbria, the Sand-Reckoner Sagrantino is a vintage that can age in your cellar for years to come: in fact, I acquired a second bottle for my godson to drink in the future. (In other words, I would age this wine for anywhere from 5-19 years.) If you choose to drink this vintage now, I strongly reccomend decanting for an hour, minimum.
What is this wine like, personified? I’ve always joked that Sagrantino is ideally like the woman I should date, but even so, that says nothing to you, the reader, of what the experience of this wine is like in the slightest. Then, while taking a break from packing, and watching the Fellowship of the Ring, I found the perfect comparison. Drinking this wine is rather like watching the scene where Frodo offers Galadriel the One Ring. Just imagine me as Frodo, and the scene more like the following exchange:
“You offer this wine to me freely? I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired this wine…. In place of the Dark Lord Sangiovese you would have Queen Sagrantino… dark and tannic, but beautiful and terrible as the Dawn! Treacherous as the lost Pedregossa Sea! Stronger than the foundations of the Chiricahua Mountains! All shall love this wine and despair!”
Yeah. It’s kind of like that. And I absolutely love it.
The post Sand-Reckoner: 2015 Estate Sagrantino appeared first on The Wine Monk: Arizona Wine Blog.
