2009 MORELLINO DI SCANSANO Heba Fattoria di Magliano

With the leaves turning a deep golden color across Europe, thoughts naturally turn to the fireside and hearty, warming reds. This example from the southern coast of Tuscany, near the medieval town of Magliano, is one such wine. Here, the vineyards are 120 meters above sea level and benefit from being near the coast. Ruby red in the glass, this blend of predominantly Sangiovese with a little Syrah, is packed with immediate, easy-drinking appeal. On the nose, it has oodles of bright, red fruit with a luscious sweetness and soft, smooth tannins. An ideal accompaniment to a winter stew, game dishes or served by the glass as an aperitif with a good book in hand.

“It’s really, really good glugging wine,” Patrick Sandeman of Lea and Sandeman puts it, while we taste his excellent Morellino di Scansano “Heba” 2009 from Fattoria di Magliano in the shop in Kensington Church Street. There’s the deep, black cherry nose with just a hint of violets, the open generous fruit, sweetness trouncing the hint of sourness you always get with sangiovese – helped here with 15% syrah. Heba is mainly fermented in cement tanks – coming back into fashion all over the wine world – and not matured in oak. It weighs in at 13 degrees, which is relatively light for morellino these days, but seems about right. The Daily Telegraph, July 2011.