You can find out more and sign up to the Sangiovese RESET 2nd Edition 2023 taking place on March 7 at Lindley Hall, London by clicking here. Here Walter Speller sets out his personal reasons for wanting to run the second edition of the tasting.
The first edition of Sangiovese RESET was modelled on Nebbiolo Day, a platform for producers to meet and taste with the UK trade. Sangiovese RESET, perhaps more so than Nebbiolo Day, was born out of Jane Hunt MW’s and my passion for a grape variety that was little understood on these shores. We also wanted to show the many exciting wines a younger generation has been producing and put the spotlights on Romagna where, perhaps, the most radical changes have been taking place in the last decade.
The first edition took place against background of the looming Covid pandemic and was the last of large-scale events to be organised in early 2020. Although the first edition, with 87 producers, was a success, everything came to a grinding halt with lockdown, hence we believed another edition was more than due.
Producers seemed to think so too, with over 100 having signed up for this year’s Sangiovese RESET.
The first Sangiovese RESET tasting in 2020 proved once and for all the demand and interest there is for the grape variety in the UK
The 2020 event showed us is the UK trade is fascinated by Sangiovese and its many incarnations as much as us and that it is a finely-tuned transmitter of terroir. Trade visitors can convince themselves of this fact again with wines coming from Tuscany, Romagna, Marche, Umbria and as far as Basilicata.
The impact of the first Sangiovese RESET edition in Italy was overwhelming. One producer from Montalcino commented that it was the first time ever an event has taken the variety seriously. Our philosophy at Hunt & Speller is that we only want to showcase the very best Italy has to offer, because the bottom line is that only quality can convince. While the UK tends to focus on Italy for bargain wares, it is willing to trade up (you only have to look at Barolo’s recent success in this market) when the quality justifies it.
Diverse talent
With over 100 producers, trade visitors will experience a width and depth of Sangiovese wines never shown before in the UK, from the very top of Montalcino to new talent from Romagna, which we are convinced is set to become a benchmark style next to Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino. Several producers from the much larger and underperforming Chianti (as opposed to Chianti Classico) denomination show that high quality can be achieved here, and visitors will be delighted by the price-quality ratio.
Alessandro Masnaghetti will look at the new village appellation that has been introduced to Chianti Classico
With the recent launch of the ‘village appellation’ in Chianti Classico (after years of lobbying by the international trade), the so called UGAs or Unità Geografica Aggiunta,, Alessandro Masnaghetti, who just published a detailed atlas on the region, will run a seminar in which he will go into the nitty-gritty.
High altitude vineyards run by four women who have teamed up under the Donne in Quota (women on altitude) name, is the topic of another very special seminar, while Giorgio Melandri together with me will present a seminar that shows a very rare vertical of aged Romagna Sangiovese wines, which will prove to be a complete eye-opener. The trade will look very differently at Romagna after this seminar.
A focus table showing the current vintages of each of the producers will give visitors a quick overview well before Vinitaly and Prowein.
- You can find out more and register for Sangiovese RESET – that takes place on March 7 between 10am and 6pmm – here.
- It features three seminars covering:
- Chianti Classico’s hotly anticipated introduction of Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive (UGA), or village sub zones – essential for obtaining in-depth knowledge of its complex and diverse terroir. Led by Alessandro Masnaghetti, Italy’s undisputed mapping expert, this seminar will see the launch of the first addition of the Chianti Classico Atlas by Masnaghetti.
- Donne in Quota four women, four top estates, I Fabbri, Tergeno Podere Castellinuzz, Tregole, introducing their high altitude wines.
- Romagna Sangiovese over three decades – a seminar hosted by Giorgio Melandri and Walter Speller which will look at the ageing capability of some of the region’s finest Sangioveses with vintages going back more than a decade.
