The Sangiovese variety was pioneered in Australia by Coriole Vineyards. It was first planted in 1985 as a contrasting style to Shiraz, the great tradition of McLaren Vale. It has proved to be ideally suited to the warm maritime climate of the region. Some people say that if you have not yet acquired a taste for Sangiovese then you need a holiday in a farmhouse in Italy... preferably Umbria or Tuscany.
The fruit is from some of the oldest producing Sangiovese vines in Australia. These vines are at Coriole, or contracted growers in McLaren Vale. It is rare for a new vineyard to qualify for Coriole Sangiovese until it is at least 10 years old. As Sangiovese tends to produce large crops, a variety of techniques are used to control crop levels to ensure high quality fruit is produced.
Sangiovese winemaking is very traditional. Grapes are fermented in open fermenters and hand plunged. The different blocks are aged separately, all in older oak hogsheads for about a year. A few months before bottling the selection and ‘assemblage’ takes place. In most recent years, Coriole Sangiovese is made from 100% Sangiovese. In 2006 there is also a separate bottling of one of the newer clones- ‘Brunello’ - which has been planted on Coriole’s estate.
