My wine tasting group got together tonight for a special Sangiovese tasting dinner!   We heard a rumor that Stolpman wasn’t going to be selling as much of their Sangiovese grape harvest in the future.  Inspired by this rumor, we decided to dig through our wine cellars to come up with bottles of Sangiovese made from Stolpman grapes.  Tonight’s Sangioveses are 2007 Scott Cellars, 2005 Stolpman, 2005 Santa Barbara Winery, 2002 Di Bruno, 2002 Vita Nova.  We opened up all the reds while we had a glass of the 2007 Brander Au Naturel Sauvignon Blanc (crisp with flavors of white grapefruit and stonefruit) that Louise brought.   We started tasting the reds and decided that the youngest wine 2007 Scott Cellars Sangiovese was the perfect pizza wine – easy drinking, fruit forward and balanced.  The 2005 Stolpman Sangiovese opened up beautifully and paired well with our Italian style dinner (hearty homemade pasta sauce with meat, cheesy garlic bread and a big green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing). The 2005 Santa Barbara Winery had flavors of bright red fruit and nice aromatics.  Next up were the 2002’s.   The 2002 Vita Nova was a bit past its prime – as most of the fruit flavors had been lost over the years.  At the far opposite end of the spectrum, the 2002 Di Bruno with its balance of cherry fruit, smoke, spice and oak was unanimously voted the best Sangiovese of the evening.  A big thank you to winemaker Bruno D’Alfonso for this beautiful wine!