Journey into the Sangiovese of Romagna to discover the best labels under 20 euros

Jan 19 2024, 15:27

Among the wines of Emilia Romagna that we awarded in the Berebene 2024 guide for the excellent quality-price ratio, there are also some Sangiovese. Here are the details.

In the October 2023 issue of Gambero Rosso's monthly magazine, we dedicated an extensive feature to one of the areas that had impressed us the most during the tastings for the Gambero Rosso 2024 Vini d'Italia guide. It is Romagna, which a few months earlier had experienced the drama of floods that, between water and mud, had wiped out much of the lives of the populations in those areas.

The reasons that led us to shine a spotlight on this territory, perhaps previously underrated, can be found not only in the qualitative growth of the wines, which has been exponential in the last decade, but above all in the identity journey that winemakers have been undertaking for some years now.

Talking about Romagna Sangiovese is somewhat limiting: it means putting both the plain viticulture, where there may still be some work to do, and the more virtuous hillside viticulture into the same pot. After all, when we talk about Romagna, we refer to a rather vast and diversified territory, stretching from the Adriatic Coast to the Apennines, which delineate its southwestern border.

That's why in 2011, there was a need to more precisely divide the territory, implementing mechanisms that, until that moment, we had practically only seen in Piedmont: in the production regulations of Romagna Sangiovese, the "Rocche" were introduced, which are the subzones that try to circumscribe the territorial peculiarities, altitudes, soils, microclimates, which should then be found in the glass. From the original 12, today we count 16: Bertinoro, Brisighella, Castrocaro, Cesena, Coriano, Imola, Longiano, Marzeno, Meldola, Mercato Saraceno, Modigliana, Oriolo, Predappio, San Clemente, Serra, Verucchio.

What struck us, however, is not so much the creation of this system, but the fact that it is the result of an action carried out by companies in synergy; the change did not only happen within the regulations but in the mentality of the winemakers, not all, of course, but enough to shake an entire territory.

The Sangiovese of Romagna with the best quality-price ratio for the Berebene 2024 guide

And so, we found ourselves facing increasingly identity-driven, characterful, authentic glasses, wines that, for their advantageous price compared to high quality, we had the opportunity to review in the Gambero Rosso's Berebene 2024 guide with a rating above 90 points and costing less than 20 euros. This is a small list of seven wines, where six clearly indicate the subzone: if you want to start the wine exploration of Romagna, this is definitely an excellent starting point.