Watkins Ruscello Sangiovese 2021
- 92
- $26
- Drink by: 2023-2030
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This wine is part of the Watkins ‘Mad Cousins’ Series, a range all about experimentation and gosh it’s a fun one. There’s ripe, seductive raspberries, black cherries and kirsch, mastic spice (think grown-up pink musk sticks) and figs in syrup. Very ripe and silky in the mouth, it’s boozy, at 14.9% alcohol, but this is cradled in loads of juicy fruit and so presents as just a buzz of warmth. The tannins are rounder and softer than you expect from Sangiovese but still perfectly varietal in the way they build on the back of the palate with a finish like chewing cacao nibs. Pair with mounds of pasta topped with the thick, rich, comfort-inducing ragu of your choice.
Nicole loves wine. So much so that she gave up a successful career in Pharmacy, perfected her spitting technique, and moved from sunny Queensland to the wine-drenched laneways of Melbourne. Stints in hospitality, wineries, retail, sales and marketing filled the next few years while Nicole built her knowledge and searched for the right path. She completed the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) Diploma in 2016 and became a certified WSET Educator the following year. She now juggles a number of roles including teaching people about wine, curating wines lists for restaurants and bars, judging in Australian wine shows and, of course, writing. In 2016 she won the Negociants Working With Wine writing award and has since contributed to Gourmet Traveller WINE, Halliday Wine Companion Magazine and Nourish Magazine.
