On february 23 and 24 a complete event dedicated to Sagrantino, rich, concentrated and intense red wine produced in Umbria region-central Italy, took place. This wine is absolutely unique, loved by many, not understood by others but which is conquering everybody all over the world.

I have been there sharing pictures and short comments as you may followed, I will write a more detailed report soon but in the meanwhile I like to share some notes.

You can recognize it by its tannins (it’s the richest wine grape in polyphenols in the world): this has been one of the most emphasized concepts during these two days when producers as well as international journalists have taken place:

Many different appointments:

• The tasting tables to try the current vintages and in particular the 2011 one along with the producers
• Blind tasting of vintages 2011 but also the old vintages of Sagrantino, dry and sweet going back to 1999
• Competitions regarding different themes: food, graphics and sommelier
• Theoretical meetings, including one with the famous winemaker mr. Cotarella who illustrated the trend of the difficult 2014 vintage in comparison to the 2011 one, clear and incisive as usual
• Yet, personalized tours for journalists have been organizaed to visit the wineries of the area thanks to shuttles purposely activated.

tenute lunelli

I like to underline the dedication of the Consortium of Montefalco wines. Pretty good the communication which is helping to collect several stories all over the world, something to improve in terms of hospitality, a better coordination will make the event perfect in the next years.

Waiting for the complete report, I leave some notes about some of the wines I have preferred: Montefalco red and Sagrantino (both red wines) by Tenuta Castelbuono winery, the one owned by the notorious family Lunelli (they also produce the famous “Ferrari” sparkling wine in Trentino region-north of Italy), Perticaia winery which impressed me for both the Sagrantino even sweet one and the white Trebbiano Spoletino also with its older vintages (up to 2007). And yet the notorious Antonelli winery, with the current vintage of Sagrantino and even the vintage 1996! Congratulations to Fattoria Colleallodole: one of the best dated Sagrantino (1999) I’ve tried. Sagrantino Passito (sweet version) is very interesting in general and I loved even the old

passito and cookies at Antonelli winery

vintages (1999, 2003, 2004, which seems still very young), in particular I loved Sagrantino Passito 2003 by Tenuta Rocca di Fabbri winery with great balance.

Yet, it’s interesting the bottle patented by Terre de la Custodia, to retain sediments that often this wine leaves and intriguing the idea of making sparkling wine from Sagrantino: only Scacciadiavoli, historical winery, does it! Last but not least, I emphasize the fundamental role of the company Arnaldo-

arnaldo caprai winery

Caprai, which made the history of this wine and that carries new innovative projects on.

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