Pizzini Nonna Gisella Sangiovese / 2024 / 750mL

The Pizzini Nonna Gisella Sangiovese 2024 is a medium-bodied King Valley red built around bright red fruit and fine, chalky tannin rather than depth of colour or weight. Sangiovese has been part of the Pizzini story in the King Valley for decades, and this is the approachable, everyday expression of it.

The aromatics lean red and floral — morello cherry, raspberry, dried rose petal and a savoury edge of tomato leaf and cured meat. Fermentation runs from cold maceration, which holds the fruit weight, through to a hotter finish that lends the wine its firmer, more traditional shape.

On the palate the fruit is plump and juicy up front before the tannins take over: fine-grained, slightly dusty, drying the finish in the way good Sangiovese should. Around half the wine is matured in a mix of large-format oak and barriques and half in stainless steel, which keeps the aromatics vibrant while the oak adds a little breadth. Acidity is the backbone here, and it makes the wine far more useful at the table than its easy-drinking reputation suggests.

Pizza and pasta are the obvious calls and the wine is unapologetic about it — tomato-based ragù, lasagne, a margherita straight from the oven. It also handles grilled lamb, salumi boards and hard aged cheeses without complaint. Serve it slightly cool.

Drink now through to 2029.