Montevertine 2004 Sangiovese at Diner Restaurant, Williamsburg

My good friend and fellow wine lover Vanessa was in town from London this week and she came out to visit us in Williamsburg and see our son Wylie.  After he went to bed, Vanessa and I went around the corner to Diner, (which quintessentially represents the neighborhood I think), as I wanted Van to get a sense of where we lived.  Plus she was craving comfort food as she was missing home, so there you go.  Anyway, the wine list is not huge at Diner, but the selection is usually pretty good, although I think the reds tend to be on the lighter side, and typically from alternative French appellations.  Hence the large number of Neal Rosenthal wines on the menu.  Neal Rosenthal is a famous New York wine importer.  He is interviewed in the movie Mondovino at Diner, so there must be some connection there!  We ended up ordering the 2004 Montevertine Sangiovese.  I love Sangiovese, which is the primary grape used in the region of Tuscany in Italy, and is the grape that is used to make Chianti.  I had a lentil salad with fresh herbs and Vanessa had the Romaine Salad with a poached egg.  For supper Vanessa had the steak and fries, and I had coq au vin.  The food all around was fantastic as usual, we both thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the Montevertine was a good foil to our rich dishes.  Vanessa and I have shared a lot of great wine together around the world and our evening at Diner was no exception.  Cheers Van!

Montevertine 2004 Sangiovese  $45
This is a nice traditional style Sangiovese.  There are light flavors of plum and cherry, it is medium bodied and garnet in color.  There are a decent amount of tannins and the acidity is solid.  I think it is still a bit young, will probably be better with a few more years in bottle, but still an attractive wine, though not super memorable.  Solid.  87 Points.