Chiara Condello, Sangiovese, 'Predappio'

Last summer, I had the chance to meet Chiara Condello during her visit to Napa — a young, kind Italian woman who has quietly dedicated her life to making the most honest, transparent Sangiovese possible from her family’s land in Romagna, just over the hills from Tuscany, where Sangiovese has such deep historical roots. One smell of what’s in this glass tells you everything you need to know: purity. Highly aromatic, lifted, and delicious Sangiovese — the kind that evokes memories of the greats. Then you see the price and it makes you scratch your head, because it’s far lower than it has any right to be. A small amount of the 2021 recently became available, and I reserved everything I could.

This is the style of Italian wine I personally crave. Wine like this — perfumed, savory, alive — which smells exactly like my perfect Italian red. There’s no ego here, no performance. Just humility, patience, and a deep respect for a place with extraordinary geological history — land that, in the right hands, is capable of producing some of the greatest red wines in Italy. If you want proof, look no further than her Lucciole, the tiny-production, highly allocated wine at the pinnacle of her estate, now firmly entrenched as a cult reference among serious Sangiovese lovers.

Chiara Condello was born and raised in Romagna, growing up among the vineyards of Predappio long before she ever imagined bottling wine under her own name. Her family has farmed land here for generations, and her connection to these hills is lived, not theoretical. After completing formal studies in oenology in the early 2010s, she returned home with a clear sense of purpose — and an equally clear sense of what she did not want to do. In 2015, she began bottling wines under her own label, committing entirely to Sangiovese and to the historic, high-elevation zone of Predappio Alta.

There are very few places left where Sangiovese still tastes the way it did before international polish and extraction became shorthand for “quality.” Predappio — a quiet, hilly pocket of Romagna tucked into the foothills of the Apennine Mountains — is one of them. This historic zone is defined by spungone soils, a fossil-rich calcareous sandstone formed during the Pliocene, a geological period from roughly 5 to 2.5 million years ago when much of inland Italy lay beneath a shallow sea. As those ancient seas receded and the land was lifted, layers of marine sediment — shells, limestone, and mineral-rich sandstone — were pushed to the surface. These soils naturally produce wines with vibrant acidity, aromatic lift, and a subtle saline, mineral edge.

The Apennines form the mountainous backbone of Italy and shape climate as much as geography. In Predappio, vineyards tucked into their foothills benefit from cooler nights, steady air movement, and long growing seasons — conditions that preserve freshness, perfume, and structure in Sangiovese even in warmer vintages.

At the estate, Condello farms roughly ten acres of organically tended Sangiovese in Predappio Alta, spread across north- and northwest-facing parcels between 300 and 450 meters above sea level. Trained in oenology but guided by restraint, she has made a deliberate decision to move against modern trends. Farming is meticulous and low-intervention, harvest timing favors freshness over ripeness, and yields are kept modest. In the cellar, fermentations are native, extraction is gentle, and élevage takes place primarily in large, neutral Slavonian oak botti, followed by time in concrete to allow the wines to settle naturally.

The 2021 Romagna Sangiovese Predappio is a near-perfect articulation of that philosophy. In the glass, it shows a pale to medium ruby core with garnet tones and a faint orange hue at the rim. Aromatically, it opens with sour cherry, dried wild strawberry, rose petal, blood orange peel, and wild herbs, followed by fennel seed, iron, and crushed stone. There’s a distinctly savory, almost ferrous undertone that immediately signals real Sangiovese grown on real limestone. No vanilla. No sweetness. No makeup.

On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied and driven by energy rather than weight. Bright, natural acidity carries red fruit and mineral tones across the palate, framed by fine but assertive tannins that provide structure without hardness. The finish is long, dry, and stony — lingering with a clear sense of place rather than fruit extract. This is Sangiovese built for the table and for time.

Pair it with tagliatelle al ragù, porchetta, grilled lamb, or a simple roast chicken with herbs and olive oil. Serve it slightly cool, around 60–65°F, in large Bordeaux stems, give it air, and let it unfold.