2013 Helix Sangiovese

Happy Sunday!  So last night I invites some of the folks that went down to Houston for a bit of a reunion dinner and it was wonderful, lots of Italian appetizers and the main course was bucatini with mussels fra diavalo, a classic!  So all that Italian had me looking for some sort of Italian or Italian inspired wine to enjoy with tonight's round 2 of mussels.  I found it in the 2013 Helix Sanviovese from the Stillwater Creek Vineyard of the Columbia Valley of Washington.  So let's see how this wine stands up to some serious Italian food!

The wine is a light, garnet color with great clarity as you'd expect from a nice Sangiovese.  The nose is chock full of leather, anise, dried flowers and a bit of white pepper.  The taste is somewhat subdued with black fruit notes up front, plum, blackberry and currant that transitions nicely to some peppery spice notes and tart cherry midpalate.  The tannins are wonderfully structured, bringing some mild acidity to the long beautifully dry finish.  This is a departure from the typical Chianti, but a pleasant one that provides ample fruit, spice and complexity to lift the dish it accompanies.

Overall, I would rate this wine a solid 8.5, as I think it's solid vintage and somewhat better than the past few vintages I've tried.  This wine would pair beautifully with a wide variety of classic Italian dishes, from pasta to risotto, but tonight I am going for round 2 of last night's dinner, with some modifications.  Tonight it's linguine with the remainder of my PEI mussels sauteed in garlic and olive oil and then simmered with San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil, red wine and a bit of hot pepper for the kick, all topped with a bit of shaved Parmesan.  Cheers!