The Io e te Morellino di Scansano is a great introduction to the wines of the Maremma Toscana.  It is textbook Morellino di Scansano with aromas of black cherries and spices, dark berry flavors, rich on the palate with good acidity and muted tannins.  If you like a richly-styled C'hianti Classico, this delicious wine at $22 is an easy segue.

Pairs well with pizza and pasta dishes, as well as grilled white meats.

Morellino di Scansano is a Sangiovese-based red wine produced in the area around the ancient village of Scansano in Tuscany’s Maremma region. The Maremma is a narrow strip of land in western Tuscany with a long coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea. The area's rich volcanic soil and dry, hot weather makes it a prime area for growing wine grapes. The sea breezes from the nearby Tyrrhenian Sea also promote large day-night temperature swings which, contrary to what you may think, are beneficial to growing quality grapes because they help balance the level of sugar and acidity in the maturing grapes.

Although the Scansano area has an ancient winemaking tradition, it wasn’t until the 1970’s when the Super-Tuscan wine phenomenon first surfaced in the Maremma region - think Sassicaia and Ornellaia - that Morellino wines caught the attention of the wine world.

The popularity and commercial success of Super-Tuscan wines sparked interest in wines from elsewhere in the Maremma region and demand for Morellino wines increased sharply. This increased popularity precipitated a land rush of sorts in the Morellino area as existing Morellino producers responded to increased demand by buying additional vineyard properties at the same time that producers from elsewhere in Italy began investing in the Morellino area by buying land, planting vineyards and starting wineries.

The Morellino di Scansano brand also received a boost from the appellation’s award of DOC status in 1978 and the subsequent upgrade in 2006 to DOCG, the highest category for Italian wines.

While all this attention worked to the benefit of wines from the Morellino area, they are still relatively unknown or overlooked by the general wine-buying public in the U.S. Consumers are generally unaware of them and easily gravitate to the comfort of the more familiar and celebrated Sangiovese-based wines from the Chianti, Montalcino and Montepulciano areas of Tuscany. However, that may be about to change as more Morellino di Scansano wines find their way to wine shop shelves in the U.S. and consumers become more aware of this delightful and relatively inexpensive Sangiovese wine.