This may be one of those grapes that
you haven't heard of or it may be one you really enjoy so I wanted to
share some information on it to further educate and maybe peak your
interest to try something new. Sagrantino is an indigenous grape to
Italy primarily found in the region of Umbria and more specifically
in the town of Montefalco. It's one of the most well known grapes of
this region.
The DOC of Montefalco was created in
1979. There is the Montefalco DOC rosso, which is actually majority
made up of sangiovese with at least 10% sagrantino and then there is
the Sagrantino di Montefalco that is 100% sagrantino. It was further
granted DOCG status in 1992. To acquire the DOCG status the wine
must come 100% purely from sagrantino and must be aged 30 months with
some other yield requirements.
This area is surrounded by the
Apennines, which provides a cooling effect in the intense summer
heat. These wines are produced from a small acreage and the DOCG
wines come from the communes of Montefalco, Bevagna, Gualdo
Cattaneo, Castel Ritaldi and Giano dell'Umbria.
Some top producers in this area include
Arnaldo Caprai, Colpetrone, Antonelli, Fratelli Adanti and Milziade
Antano.
Sagrantino is known for being a
full-bodied red with high tannins and spice. It's deep in color
leaning more towards a deep purple. In the older days this grape was
known for making a passito style where the grapes are dried producing
a sweet, thicker dessert style wine with a higher alcohol percentage.
If you like wines of the Valpolicella area that I have discussed in
my previous blogs here then I
would recommend checking out these wines.
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