A recommendation from my friends at Social Wines. This Sangue di Guida red sparkling number caught me a little off guard. This wine is actually D.O.C. – for you guys who don’t know what this means… it is good! It is the guarantee of origination and history. This wine is a blend of Barbera, Croatina, Uva Rara and Ughetta Vespolina – not really varietals I am familiar with, except Barbera so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.
The Sangue di Guida is a deep dark ruby red in color with a fizz that stops soon after you pour. No aroma to speak of except a little sour cherry and a bit of pepper spice. Powerfully sweet on the palate and almost chewy – a complete surprise to me. I expected dryness and less fruit, however there were distinct tastes of strawberries, sweet black fruits and with just a tickle of fizz. The sweetness lingers on the tongue and tantalizes it in an attempt to make you like this wine. I actually was not sure I did, so tried another sip. The second taste was slightly better. There was nothing I didn’t like about this sparking red, but I wasn’t sure I loved it. As you know, I am a professional (wino) so I needed to absolutely make sure I didn’t love it. A few more sips and I really started to enjoy the sweetness and mild sparkle… a lot.
I was actually tasting this wine to see if I wanted it as a wine to start a dinner party with, however, now I think about it, it would be a great wine to end the evening. It’s like a rich but lighter port with a bit of fun. I really started to enjoy it.
Isn’t it funny how something you initially are not sure of, you learn to like a lot and I did. Maybe I need to apply this logic to dating :). Or perhaps not, too much sweetness might just be too much… at least all of the time.
This wine is delicious chilled and I am now a fan. Check out the guys at Social Wines for other great recommendations. This one, I thank them for as I really would not have picked it.
My rating . . .
We discovered this wine while on holiday in Florida and must admit it is one of the nicest red wine I have tasted (this coming from someone who doesn’t like red wine). We have searched unsuccessfully to find a supplier in England and would be very grateful if you know where we can get this, you would let me know. Many thanks look forward to possibly replenishing our stock.
hi Sue – thanks for the comment. Yes love this wine. Unfortunately, even though I am British and was recently home for a visit, I am not sure where if you can buy this wine there. I got it in Boston.
I was gifted this wine for Xmas a few years ago and loved it. It is my favorite go to wine . I’ve yet to find anything I like better. So light and fruity. I adore the slight fizz . It’s a beautiful surprise when you first take a sip .
This is a very fun wine. Glad you enjoyed it.
You can only get it at abc and i dont have one of those is there something identical or damn near to it
I have seen this wine in a lot of local Boston stores so I know it is out there. Perhaps check wine searcher.
Sangue di Giuda was a real nice find for me. Seems like all my friends were well versed on the other varietals and I was the first to introduce this to my group of friends. Now it’s a staple at our get togethers…although we don’t drink it exclusively of course. It’s picking up steam in our area of Florida which is great and sad as I’m sure it will come into vogue and then be just another choice. But that’s true of anything new and good.
What I would suggest is testing out the different makers of Sangue di Guida. There is quite a bit of variety. I’m no wine connoisseur but even I can taste a big difference in this wine depending on the label. It seems that despite it’s DOC and limited growing area, the different percentages of grape varietals can change the taste quite a bit. We are planning on getting about ten different brands and having a wine tasting. We aren’t very good at describing the wines as you so descriptively write but we’ll probably rank them in order of appeal. My current favorite comes from the Ca Montebello Vineyard in Lombardy. It has a pinkish label and the flavor and fizzante are balanced beautifully. See if you can get that one and let me know how you think it compares to the Costarosa, which might just be my second favorite.