Friday read: Sizing up Romagna’s Sangiovese

By David Furer

Published: 17 January, 2025

David Furer reflects on the often overlooked but increasingly impressive wines from Tuscany’s more affordable rival, the Romagna DOC and its 16 sub-zones.

When I first visited Italy’s historic Romagna wine region in 2018 – an area once billed as a good choice for inexpensive Sangiovese quaffing when Tuscany’s were too expensive – I was impressed by the attention to detail and execution of improvements in the viticulture and vinification. Returning last autumn, by way of a visit to the Consorzio’s annual Vini Ad Arte event, it was apparent the past six years have seen this trend continue, with the number of merely average wines plummeting in the face of a plethora of good wines, and with many flashes of brilliance.

Established in 2011, Romagna DOC’s 16 sub-zones include over 3,500ha of vines, spanning 10km east of Bologna to 20km west of Rimini at the Adriatic shore. Most of the vineyards are planted south of the rail line bisecting the Po Valley atop gently sloping hills on a diversity of clay, sandy and very chalky marl soils. Romagna’s annual volume production has steadily declined while the amount of Sangiovese DOC and DOCG wines crafted in its DOC-driven sub-zones, such as of Bertinoro, Imola, Marzeno, Oriolo and Predappio, has increased.

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One notable producer is Predappio-based Chiara Condello, who stepped into her family’s multi-level Condé wine business in 2015, later setting her sights to organic and biodynamic production as she created her self-titled Chiara Condello project to run alongside the family operation. Tasting with her, it is clear that she is well-deserving of the praise much of the media has lavished upon her wines. Condello ferments exclusively with indigenous yeasts in conical barrels and ages her wines in neutral Slavonian oak, with the intention being to create gently extracted, terroir-driven expressions from her 150m-350m elevation site.

“[Our sub-region is] tiny, so it’s not easy for people to get in contact with the mere 350,000 bottles produced throughout Predappio… a hidden gem I want to put on the map,” says Condello of this sub-region.

When asked about UK exports, Condello responds: “I’m lucky enough to be working in allocations, so my small quantities are placed in finer restaurants and artisan-oriented shops.”

UK-based Piedmont specialist importer Ultravino started working with Condello in 2019 with its 2016 Le Lucciole Riserva and 2017 Predappio vintages. Founder James Taylor took a chance in trying something new, “because we had a very strong conviction in the quality of the wines, with the growth of her wines meteoric in the UK market ever since,” he says.

Yassine Salehm, manager at London's The Sampler, picks up the thread: “Her soft red-fruited rendition of Predappio Sangiovese has struck a chord with fine wine lovers whose expectations had previously been married to the more formal and robust style of Sangiovese synonymous with Toscana.”

He cited Condello’s singular identity and value as compared to Brunello or Chianti Classico, adding: “Her wines have a great texture and seem to age gracefully, although approachable early… without losing freshness.”

On the westernmost portion of viticultural Romagna in its Imola sub-zone is the organic Tre Monti estate of Vittorio and David Navacchia, with their 46ha of vines equally divided between south-facing slopes near their home and at the mixed exposure Petrignone estate in the Forlì-Cesena sub-zone. The estate was a dream of their news broadcaster father Sergio Navacchia, the first in the region to hire outside winemakers in a bid to raise the middling quality level that had long defined the region’s wines. The elder Navacchia did this by introducing must-chilling and other techniques that were then new, with this underpinning the brothers’ continuation of their father’s quest.

Enologist brother Vittorio guided me through the first three vintages of Petrignone, 2021-2023, planted by their father in 2000 mostly to clones culled from Montalcino and fully vinified in concrete. The result is a fruit-forward and plush tannic Sangiovese, reflective of the modish shift overtaking Romagna.

Additionally, Tre Monti has pioneered amphora-vinified wines in Romagna, its Vitalba label of dry white Romagna Albana – a style that’s rapidly drawing attention from its more popular sweet version in this, Italy’s first DOCG. And a deeper, richer style suitable for immediate consumption or medium-term aging lies in the brothers’ flagship Thea Riserva Forlì bottling.

Helix is a fledgling Edinburgh wine importer comprised of four partners bound by a mutual love of food and drink, selling primarily to local hospitality operations. “Since importing our first pallet of Tre Monti, we’ve received great feedback from guests and customers,” says partner Finn Porelli.

“Our shop stocks a wide range of gastronomic wines that can often only be found in top restaurants,” says its buyer Jamie Dawson. “When recommending wines, we’ve found our customers very receptive to Sangiovese from regions other than Tuscany with Tre Monti’s Petrignone Sangiovese’s fine but firm tannin structure a perfect pairing for roasted or grilled meats.”

At aforementioned Vini Ad Arte I discovered a handful of good vintners including Raffaella Bissoni, which has enjoyed UK distribution since 2017 through Lea & Sandeman. As a producer fully engaged throughout her namesake operation, the early adopter to biodynamism is viewed by many peers as a force to be reckoned with, and the quality of her wines reflects that.

Lea & Sandeman buyer David Porter recounts that, “our first shipment in summer 2017 was for her 2015 Sangiovese and 2012 Passito – optimistically with a large order – and sales have remained steady at approximately 1,000 bottles alone of her Sangiovese Girapoggio annually.”

Porter confirms that Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Montalcino remain category leaders, with Sangiovese di Romagna a fraction of the variety’s sales. “But we are also retailers, our own clients, where the bulk of Bissoni is hand-sold,” he adds.

Porter’s assertion is carried on by Wallow Wines in Norfolk, where MD Laz Damon says: “We’re always on the lookout for wines that can both surprise and delight, and Sangiovese di Romagna brings a fresh perspective to what people traditionally expect from Italian reds.”

He adds: “It’s impossible not to feel Bissoni’s passion for her craft, and that energy is exactly what we want to offer our customers. These wines have a softer, more approachable structure than customers might expect from a typical Tuscan Sangiovese… also offering affordability and versatile with food.”

Some 18km away from Bissoni lies Poderi dal Nespoli which began life in 1929 crafting a quaff for the Ravaioli family’s trattoria. The operation has since vastly expanded its holdings, now counting 65ha of vines to its name, with another 180ha managed by the family’s fourth generation who still oversee production in partnership with Italy’s Mondodelvino Group. As such, it is one of the region’s largest producers of Romagna DOC wines.

Since the 1960s Nespoli’s full-bodied Prugneto Sangiovese Superiore has been its flagship, with the just-launched Gualdo Predappio from the 2021 vintage also admirably expressing the valley’s terroir. Brought into the UK by The Wine Trust, the wider portfolio extends to a curious, sweet blend of Albana/Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc, plus Spumante DOCs, with the latter being a regional category that’s beginning to bubble.

Ancarani, Noelia Ricci and Ottaviani are other wineries with UK distribution producing Sangiovese worthy of attention, along with the Romagna’s equally indigenous reds of Centesimino, Famoso, plus the white Albana. For wine professionals keen to keep up with trends – or better yet, to be among those setting the pace – Romagna’s stable of top-quality performers continues to swell with affordable, dynamic offerings that are increasingly among Italy’s finest expressions of the Sangiovese grape.

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