Chalmers make incredible characterful wines from Mediterranean grape varieties that they have imported, cultivated in vineyards in Heathcote, Victoria. This amazing Sagrantino has an invitingly sumptuous nose of rich, ripe fruit and savoury herbal complexity. There is a wonderful sense of completeness in the mouth: velvety texture, cinnamon and spicy dried fruit flavours and a concentrated maturity reminiscent of rare, oak-aged balsamic vinegar and soy sauce. Superbly rounded and well-balanced.
One of the most tannic varieties in the world, Sagrantino is a relatively small player in Italy where there are only about 250 hectares of the grape grown in the Montefalco region of Umbria. Despite this, it is a highly revered wine with DOCG status since 1992. It has been growing in Australia since 2000 with the first Australian wine made by Chalmers in 2004. There are now a number of producers making great examples of the variety which has proven to perform fantastically well in both extreme heat/drought conditions and wet vintages like 2010 and 2011.