Italian Grapes

The Mandola Estate Winery was founded to recreate a little corner of Italy in Texas. Some of our finest wines are produced used native Italian grape varieties grown in our own vineyards.

Sangiovese

(SAHN-gee’oh-VEH-zeh)

Sangiovese is Italy’s most widely planted native red grape and accounts for more than 11% of the entire surface area “planted to vine” in the country. It is planted in every one of Italy’s twenty regions, from Sicily (in the south) to Piedmont (in the northwest).

It is a light-skinned, “tannic” red grape and can be used to make a wide variety of wines, from light quaffable red wines for everyday drinking to tannic, structured long-aging wines, like Tuscany’s famous Brunello di Montalcino and its Chianti Classico and Chianti Rufina.

Sangiovese is not an easy grape to grow but historically, it has fared well in Texas, where the soil types and climate are nearly ideal for its cultivation.

At Mandola, we love Sangiovese for its natural fruit flavors (often reminiscent of red stone fruit and plums) and its bright acidity, making it one of the world’s greatest “food-friendly” grape varieties. Great with food? No wonder it comes from Italy!

Dolcetto

(dohl-CHEH-toh)

Names can be deceiving: the name of this grape, Dolcetto comes from the Italian dolce (adj., sweet) and -etto (diminutive suffix) and is often translated as “the little sweet one.” In fact, the name means slightly sweet and the sweetness in question comes from the grape’s natural fruit flavor.

Dolcetto is actually a tannic red grape and is one of the favorite varieties of the Piedmontese. In Piedmont, Dolcetto is typically served with roast and stewed meats and is the preferred hardy wine of the cold Piedmontese winter.

Don’t let the name fool you: our Texas-grown Dolcetto is a structured, meaty red wine, a perfect accompaniment for Texas beef!

Vermentino

(VEHR-mehn-TEE-noh)

Vermentino is an aromatic white grape, native to Italy, planted widely along the western coast of the Italian peninsula (mainly in Liguria and Tuscany) and on the island of Sardinia. It makes for a bright, golden-colored white wine, with fruity aromas and bright acidity.

It is a sturdy white grape that fares well in warm and often arid climates. This is one of the reasons that we have had so much success with the Vermentino grape here in Texas, where warm summers are like those in the Mediterranean climate of Italy.