Since the release of his first ‘i’ collection of Australian table wines from Italian varieties in 1996, Mornington Peninsula vigneron Garry Crittenden has set the standard for sangiovese in this country. And his latest effort from 1999 is perhaps his best yet. Australians caught the bug for making indigenous wines from Italian varieties from the US but have wasted little time in making up lost ground. The appeal of these so-called ‘new’ grapes, which have been used to make wine for several centuries prior to the European discovery of this country, is twofold: in a wine country dominated almost exclusively by the French varieties of chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and shiraz they offer startling new tastes and textures and, furthermore, nothing goes better with Italian cuisine than wine from Italian grapes. Simple. Sangiovese is the most widely planted red grape in Italy, but is most famous for being the flagship quality red variety in Tuscany, where it is the principal variety for Chianti Classico and the sole permissible grape for Brunello di Montalcino. Crittenden’s sangiovese comes from the King Valley and has consistently born startling similarities to good Chianti. He describes it as ‘a winey, vinous dry red you can drink a lot of, every day. Its high degree of acidity refreshes the palate while eating and its softer tannins are usually approachable,’ he says. ‘Of all the Italian varieties, sangiovese will be the easiest to introduce to Australia, given the new affinity we have with the wines of Chianti and Tuscany. It’s an easier taste for people to understand than barbera and nebbiolo’, he says. Sangiovese typically presents lightly earthy and tarry aromas of dark berry and rose petals, occasionally with the sweet fragrance of boiled confection and the spicy vegetal scent of tomato stalks. While it can be made into a searingly powerful wine of enormous concentration, astringency and length, Crittenden’s style is to focus on its intense ripe maraschino cherry and plum flavours, leaving a fleshy palate which typically finishes savoury and tight-knit with drying, but not aggressive tannins. The Garry Crittenden ‘i’ Sangiovese does all of that, and rather well. It’s a delicious and complete example of sangiovese which you can drink anytime now or over the next four years.
