My wine's terroir (5) - Montefalco and Sagrantino

Here we are at the end of this path, that led me to tell you my wine terroirs.

Many places, many people, worlds very far for many aspects but united in sharing the concept of wine as one with the territory to which it belongs.

So, after telling about my initiation to the quality wine (Montalcino), to ideally close the circle it seemed to me coherent to end with the place that represents my last "oenological" trip: Montefalco.

A village known as the "railing of Italy", from you can enjoy a wonderful panorama of the valley below, but above all a place that - like few others - has become over time an unique thing with its grape variety and with the wine that originates from it, that is Sagrantino.

It’s a very particular grape variety, autochtonous but with still uncertain origins (even if the most accredited theory wants to originate from Greece and imported in the area by Byzantine monks), which actually is grown only inside the ​​Montefalco’s area and its its neighboring villages.

A grape that gives rise to an uncompromising wine, dark like pitch and with a nose never completely open and expressive (as shady as the region it comes from), loved by somebody but at the same time detested by others cause of its polyphenolic and above all tannic content.

For this reason, until a few decades ago, Sagrantino was produced and marketed alone in "passito" version, in which the high sugar residual it was able to mitigate its impetuosity and therefore allow it to be drunk.

In fact, I don't think that in the world there’s a wine so marked by tannins, a factor that basically constrains producers - and above all enthusiasts - to wait for several years of aging in bottle before approaching it, in order to have slightest hope of coming out with the intact bones.

As then happened in other wine regions, also in this denomination over the years there have been stylistic evolutions that trying to follow international taste have reached the goal to make Sagrantino di Montefalco more "gentle".

This was possible thanks to the barrique introduction and with a more accurate polyphenolic extraction, factors that made the wines more drinkable in the immediate while not distorting so much the aspects that charachterize and make recognizable this grape variety.

For me, in this case “modernization” has brought very gratifying results, both in terms of product quality and the appeal and recognisability of wine internationally.

Personally - despite being basically a "traditionalist" - I believe that a grape variety as extreme as this could only benefit from aging in barriques rather than in large barrels, and that therefore this stylistic modernization has overall brought more lights than shadows to the denomination.

But it’s also true that there are many exceptions, represented by old and very rated wineyards or by "extraordinary" skills of some producers capable of giving rise to wines of excellent quality through a more classic style and without having to wait for the decade before drinking them.

Bonus Track: 3 labels not to be missed

Sagrantino di Montefalco 25 Anni - Arnaldo Caprai. For starting to discover this grape variety you have to start from here. The label that more than any other has put Montefalco on the wine map that counts. Classic, austere, sometimes intractable in youth, but with exceptional aging skills and increasingly complex with the years. An absolute "must have" of the appellation.

Sagrantino di Montefalco Colleallodole - Milziade Antano. Winecellar located in Bevagna. Another highly classic label, emblem of tradition, albeit with significantly smaller numbers.  A wine that combines the notorious power and concentration of this variety with a rustic touch that makes it extremely recognizable and appreciated

Sagrantino di Montefalco Campo alla Cerqua - Giampiero Tabarrini. Another label with small numbers but with great quality. Elegant and deep like few other wines of this area, with a strong mineral matrix and great drinkability, without losing the identity characteristics of the grape.