Geografico Sangiovese IGT Toscana "Le Mire"
Le Mire is Geografico’s entry level Sangiovese. It is an IGT Toscana, produced from grapes grown around the town of San Gimignano. Many of the same vineyards that provide fruit for Geografico’s Chianti Colli Senesi have younger vines that are better suited for Le Mire. Its character is decidedly Italian, expressive of the Sangiovese variety and free of the muddying influence of non-native grapes.
Geografico’s winemaking objective is a light, fruity, pleasant and versatile wine. This is achieved by relatively fast (5 days) fermentation in temperature controlled steel tanks, aided by the introduction of cultured yeasts. Malolactic fermentation follows during the winter, and the winery is kept warm enough for this to happen naturally. Fining and filtering preceed bottling in March. No wood is used for storage, preserving the wine’s fruity aromas. These develop complexity over time in bottle.
The IGT (indicazione geografica tipica) designation provides winemakers a regional identity for wines that they choose not to include in DOC or DOCG cuvees. Prior to its introduction, the only alternative to DOC was vino da tavola, an anonymous designation that did not permit the grape varieties to be identified, nor provide any assurance of provenance. Today, IGT wines provide some of the best values in regional types.