The wines of Montefalco in Umbria

Umbria is a province in Italy lying east of Tuscany. Umbria reminds me a lot of Tuscany with the food and the nature but still it is very different. For example Umbria is less famous so it is less tourists there and there are some high mountain ranges. Maybe Umbria is most known for the town of Assisi which is the birthplace of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Assisi is a very beautiful place. But maybe to much tourists at some times.
Another very beautiful place in Umbria is Castelluccio near Norcia in Umbria. It is a small village situated at 1350 meter height in the plains of Castelluccio. Pictures cannot describe how beautiful and tranquil this place is.

The food is a bit similar to Tuscan cooking with some big differences. One is the use of black truffles, which is delightful part of the Umbrian kitchen.

The most famous wines of Umbria comes from the small town of Montefalco. This town is quite interesting as it is very medieval and has small narrow winding streets with good view of the surrounding countryside due to the height of 473 meters.

The wine of Montefalco were not much known to me before I visited Umbria. First there is the wine called Rosso di Montefalco which must contain 60-70% Sangiovese with some 10-15% Sagrantino and the winemakers other choice of red grapes. And then the wine must be aged for 18 months. Since Sagrantino has a lot of tannins it makes for a wine with more tannins than the usual wine.
Then there is the Rosso di Montefalco riserva which must be aged for 30 months. This wine is quite rare since the wine producers tend to focus aging for their Sagrantino wine. The Montefalco Sagrantino must contain 100% of Sagrantino and must be aged for at east 30 months. Sagrantino is an indigenous grape to Umbria and is grown primarily around Montefalco. This grape has one of the highest tannic levels in the world and in the restaurant in Assisi the waiter warned us that we would be looking like that we had eating a lemon if we were not used to it.

Back to the wines that I tasted during this trip. Tabarrini Rosso di Montefalco from 2012 were very good.

The first ever Sagrantino di Montefalco that I tasted were a wine from 2011 by Cantina Fratelli Pradi. The waiter warned us and it is strong in tannins but went very well with the strong food. Can be stored for many more years.

At a ristorante in Noria I tasted a Rosso di Montefalco by producer Arnaldo Caprai from 2012. Very good.

For the last evening in Umbria I has the wine Rosso di Montefalco by producer Tenute Delcerro from 2012. Yet again a very good wine.

There is also one more wine from Montefalco that I didn't have the chance to taste and it is a passito wine made from the Sagrantino grape. That will be a thing to be done in the future.

When leaving Umbria I felt a bit sad as I felt really t home there. Leaving Norcia and the beautiful town square. I will be back one day.

Going back in time to the eighties

Fortified wine from Rivesaltes can be quite old.  Rivesaltes is an AOC for sweet fortifies wine in Languedoc, France. The wine I tried were from 1988 and the alcohol level were 17,5%. It is called Ambre Hors d'Age.To be called this the wine has to be stored at least for five years. The colour is amber as usual with old sweet wines and the taste is a bit like sherry. Dried fruit with a bit nutty taste. Very good too a dessert. The producer is Vignerons Catalans.

A good Vermentino wine from Tuscany is the wine Villa Vallemaggiore. It has a taste of citrus and apricot. It is made in Maremma. Very good.