Italy's grape expectations

Some newsworthy tidbits caught my eye this week. Tie them together, and they lead us down a wine trail worth following.

On the Web site www.winejudging.com, I found posted the results of one of the country's largest competitions. This year, 4,235 wines were entered by 1,500 wineries. As is always the case, there were beaucoup medals awarded, so let's go straight to the top — the Sweepstake Awards, given in five different categories. These are the best of the best, and only seven wines out of the 4,235 earned one. One of the seven was Barnard Griffin's 2007 Rosé of Sangiovese.

Sincere congratulations to winemaker Rob Griffin. This wine, by the way, will be released officially in a few weeks, and I wouldn't wait too long to snap it up. But isn't it interesting that it was a bone dry rosé of sangiovese — an Italian grape that is the backbone of chianti and other Tuscan wines, but remains an obscure footnote in America — that brought unanimous praise from the judges?

Paul Gregutt is the author of "Washington Wines and Wineries The Essential Guide." His column appears weekly in the Wine section. He can be reached by e-mail at wine@seattletimes.com.