Mutiliana Ibbola Romagna Sangiovese 2015

Giorgio’s Ibbola bottling hails from the highest of Modigliana’s 3 wine growing valleys and also happens to be the most extreme by way of topography, the vineyards along its precariously steep and narrow walls rising upward of 500m above sea level. Hand-harvested in the latter part of October, the Ibola spends 40 days macerating in steel before transferring to cement tank for 8 months before bottling. With almost 7 years of development now under its belt, the 2015 Ibbola offers a rare glimpse (at least here in the US) into Romagna Sangiovese’s evolutionary path. Cool fruited and herbal, the Ibola shows a balance of suave elegance and mineral austerity, with an almost salty, incisive palate driven by fine, dusty Sangiovese tannins. There’s an array of amaro-like botanical notes here, think dried sage, eucalyptus, cedar, intermixed with acid driven fruit elements sour cherry, blood orange, and pomegranate. This is Sangiovese with some mountain-grown spirit!

On the weathered sandstone plains above Modigliana, in Emilia Romagna’s bucolic south, Sangiovese speaks a different language than its more famed locales in nearby Tuscany. Alcohol levels are lower, acidity is fresher, and there exists a greater prominence of herbal and floral elements. Who better to understand the minutiae of central Italy’s most famous red grape in this lesser-known region than Giorgio Melandri, a wine journalist that has spent the better part of two decades tasting and critiquing the wines of Emilia Romagna for Italy’s famed wine publication, Gambero Rosso. Today, Melandri is driven by the exploration of Modigliana’s vast array of microclimates and geological subzones. Having purchased a few small vineyards and undertaken a few more long-term vineyard contracts, Giorgio crafts 3 wines that intend to showcase each of Modigliana’s 3 major wine growing valleys–Acerreta, Ibbola, and Tramazzo–his transparent, hands-off approach in the winery only working to better amplify the beauty this man sees in Sangiovese from this corner of Italy.