The 2024 King Valley Sangiovese draws on the region's long history with Italian grape varieties, planted originally by the Italian families who settled Victoria's High Country last century and still shaping what gets grown there.

True to the variety, it leads with sour cherry and dried herbs rather than dark, sweet fruit, with a savoury, almost tomato-leaf edge running underneath. The palate is tangy and direct, with that same red-fruit character rather than anything jammy, and a faint dusty tannin grip that shows itself early rather than only on the finish.

Tannins are firm and slightly grainy, acidity is high, and the finish is properly dry; this is a food-first red, not a sipping wine, built to sit alongside a plate rather than stand alone.

It's built for the table it was designed around: tomato-based pasta, wood-fired pizza, or a plate of cured salumi, where its acid and tannin have something to cut through.

Give it a slight chill in warmer weather and drink it over the next two to three years, while the sour-cherry fruit is at its most vivid.