Sangiovese is an Italian variety that is the backbone for Chianti. Sangiovese is the #1 varietal in Italy with 247,000 acres, 10% of the entire wine grape crop. The hot, dry climate, such as Tuscany provides, is where Sangiovese thrives. Because these climatic criteria generally enhance quantity, rather than quality, it takes careful cultivation and winemaking techniques to produce really excellent wine from this grape.

We find it tends to crop generously and produce thin wines unless the fruit is thinned and well ripened in a favourable year.  When it all comes together we release the wine under the Three Hills label at cellar door. The first Three Hills vintage (2004) was a ripper and it simply walked out the door. The experience has confirmed for us the basic proposition that consumers never fail to identify a really top notch wine

The flavour profile of Sangiovese is fruity, with moderate to high natural acidity and generally a medium-body ranging from firm and elegant to assertive and robust and a finish that can tend towards bitterness. The aroma is generally not as assertive and easily identifiable as Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, but can have a strawberry, blueberry, faintly floral, violet or plummy character.

AROMA: A pretty aroma of lilac, red Jubes, cranberry, blueberry and liqueur cherry with notes of ‘Red Skins’, truffle, choc mint and coffee.

PALATE: A medium weight wine which displays both sweet fruit and savoury flavours. Sour cherry, red fruits, turned earth and tapenade are most prominent with notes of dark chocolate, licorice and bay leaf. It is a complex savoury style wine with noticeable chalky tannin that complements Mediterranean food perfectly.

VARIETIES: 100% Sangiovese.

WINEMAKER'S NOTES