Morellino di Scansano

A coastal freshness typifies many of the Sangiovese-based reds from this less-famed southern DOCG of Tuscany, a region full of big-name impetus as well as local personality

- RICHARD BAUDAINS

Morellino di Scansano is possibly Tuscany’s most under-the-radar and underrated wine. As a DOCG – Italy’s top level of denomination – with impressive general levels of quality and annual production in 2021, according to its regional consorzio, of 9.2 million bottles, it ought to be far better known. (The Brunello di Montalcino DOCG states ‘an average of 9 million bottles’ a year.) Somehow, however, Morellino di Scansano misses out on the collective renown of Tuscan wines. The reasons could be that its emergence is relatively recent, and that it is from a part of Tuscany that is a long way from tourist hotspots. It is probably also true that its mysteriously lowly market positioning works against wider recognition.

Morellino di Scansano comes from the province of Grosseto, the most southerly, the largest and the least populated province of the region – and one of Tuscany’s most unspoilt rural areas, in which vineyards find their place in a biodiverse patchwork of woods, olive groves, pastures and arable land. The DOCG stretches over a vast area, from the river Ombrone near Grosseto city itself (see map, p50), east across to Capanne and Saturnia, and down almost to the regional border with Lazio to the south.

Topographically, it can be divided into three main areas. The first is the low-lying strip divided from the Tyrrhenian sea coast by the wooded Monti dell’ Uccellina. The second, widely planted area lies on the first line of gentle slopes inland, with vineyards concentrated around the villages of Magliano and Montiano. The third zone, climbing to the east to the villages of Scansano and Manciano, consists of steeper hills up to 500m above sea level.