Montefalco and its love for sagrantino

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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