Caldora Sangiovese 2007

Opening a bottle of Caldora wine is always a gratifying experience. In the case of the 2007 Caldora Sangiovese, the pleasure begins in the eye: ruby red and dressed to kill, the robe on this wine elicits a hedonistic stare. In fact, the 2007 Caldora Sangiovese is utterly enticing and nearly impossible to resist. Moreover, the wine’s visual allure is matched in the olfactory by a generous dollop of pure Sangiovese fruit, which is ever so deftly laced with scents of spice and sandalwood. And what follows on the palate is a supple, seductive blend of ripe cherry, plum, and cedar flavors that winemaker Mario Ercolino has wrapped ever so adeptly around a vinous, well-toned core. Although neither weighty, nor complex, the 2007 Caldora Sangiovese beguiles by being completely satisfying, preferring to dazzle with seductive charm, elegance and flavor, rather than sheer body. Kudos to Mario Ercolino, who has once again furnished an extremely tasty, easy to drink, in your face red wine that offers great all year round drinking pleasure, and more! We suggest serving the delicious 2007 Caldora Sangiovese at cool room temperature or even slightly cooler (55º-65º F) on a hot day.

All of Caldora’s wines possess a purity and hedonistic appeal that are hard to resist, with or without food. However, Caldora’s 2007 Sangiovese is a clear standout. It earns our nod as the quintessential house wine, for home and restaurants. The wine’s pure fruit and soft, spicy flavors make it popular with a crowd and able to complement a wide variety of foods, without overpowering them. So, fire up the grill, bring on the burgers, barbecue chicken, and all the ribs you can muster. Make some pasta, with fresh tomato sauce and plenty of herbs of course, or order out for a really good pizza! And don’t forget the staples of a simple southern Italian meal: garlic bread, antipasto, and fresh buffalo mozzarella, drizzled with olive oil and served with fully ripened plum tomatoes. But why limit yourself? With Caldora’s Sangiovese, there is no need to stand on ceremony. Just open the bottle and pour a glass or two with whatever you are preparing; it is the Abruzzi way. Enjoy!

Caldora is a new venture that began in 2003, as a partnership between Valentino Sciotti and renowned Italian winemaker Mario Ercolino. This dynamic duo launched Caldora when they rented one of the largest cooperative wineries in the Abruzzo. They outfitted the winery with new custom made technology specified by Ercolino, a winemaker obsessed with attaining the maximum expression of fruit in his wines, and began promptly fashioning the region’s most prodigious wines from autochthonous varietals. To push Caldora’s wines to an even higher level of quality, Sciotti and Ercolino have established an avant-garde vineyard management system that compensates grape growers who agree to adhere to rigidly specified agricultural standards. This includes paying a set amount of money according to the size of the vineyard under production, rather than according to the quantity of grapes produced. The combination of excellent grapes and outstanding wine making have yielded exceptional results at Caldora that speak volumes. In just five years, Ercolino's taste for intense, deep fruit in his wines has won many friends and transformed how the wine drinking world views the wines of the Abruzzo as well as the indigenous vines of the region. The Caldora production area is located in primarily around Ortona in the splendid Moro River Valley. Here a unique ribbon of land lies between the gleaming Adriatic and a precipitous 10,000 foot ridge of the Apennine Mountains. This special land possesses a microclimate that is ideal for Montepulciano, Pecorino, Sangiovese, and the region’s other indigenous grape varieties, which explains why winemaking has been prized in this region since the 3rd century AD and why consumers have quickly gobbled up Caldora’s wines.